2.

3-EU

ISCC PLUS
Version 3.4.2
 Copyright notice
© 2023 ISCC System GmbH

This ISCC document is protected by copyright. It is freely available from the ISCC website
or upon request.

No part of this copyrighted document may be changed or amended. The document may not
be duplicated or copied in any form or by any means for commercial purpose without
permission of ISCC.

Document Title: ISCC PLUS

Version 3.4.2
Valid from: 6 March 2024
 I

ISCC PLUS
Content
Summary of Changes.............................................................................................................. IV

1 Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 5
2 Scope and Normative References .................................................................................. 6

3 Governance .................................................................................................................... 7

4 Requirements for Certification Bodies and Auditors ....................................................... 7

5 System Basics ................................................................................................................ 8

5.1 Acceptance of other Sustainability Schemes under ISCC PLUS .......................... 8

5.1.1 Forest Biomass under ISCC PLUS .............................................................. 9

5.2 Material Eligible for ISCC PLUS Certification ...................................................... 10
5.3 Sustainability Requirements ................................................................................ 10

5.4 Raw Material Category ........................................................................................ 11

5.5 Requirements for CO2 Certifications .................................................................... 13

5.6 Post-Consumer and Pre-Consumer Materials ..................................................... 15

5.7 Ocean-bound Plastic ........................................................................................... 16
5.8 Voluntary Add-Ons under ISCC PLUS ................................................................ 17

6 Waste and Residues ..................................................................................................... 18

7 The Circular Economy .................................................................................................. 19

7.1 Reuse, Recovery and Recycling.......................................................................... 19

7.2 Mechanical and Chemical Recycling ................................................................... 19
7.3 Additional Requirements for Recycling according to EN 15343 .......................... 21

8 Requirements for Traceability ....................................................................................... 23

8.1 Basics .................................................................................................................. 23

8.2 Minimum Requirements for the Management System......................................... 24

8.2.1 Responsibilities of the Management .......................................................... 25

8.2.2 Procedures, Reporting and Documentation ............................................... 25

8.2.3 Qualification and Training of Employees .................................................... 27
8.2.4 Technical Equipment .................................................................................. 27

8.2.5 Internal Audits ............................................................................................ 27

8.3 General Information and Documentation Requirements ..................................... 27

8.3.1 General Requirements ............................................................................... 28

8.3.2 General Requirements for Sustainability Declarations ............................... 29

© ISCC System GmbH

 II

ISCC PLUS
8.3.3 General Information of Sustainability Declarations .................................... 31

8.3.4 Information Requirements for Internal Company Processes ...................... 35

8.3.5 Self-Declarations/Self-Assessments .......................................................... 35

8.4 Specific Requirements for Elements of the Supply Chain ................................... 37

8.4.1 Farms or Plantations .................................................................................. 37

8.4.2 Central Office for Farms/Plantations .......................................................... 40

8.4.3 First Gathering Point .................................................................................. 42

8.4.4 Point of Origin for Waste and Residues ..................................................... 45

8.4.5 Central Office for Points of Origin of Waste and Residues ........................ 50

8.4.6 Collecting Point for Waste and Residues ................................................... 50

8.4.7 Traders and Storage Facilities ................................................................... 52

8.4.8 Processing Units ........................................................................................ 56

8.4.9 Transport .................................................................................................... 62

8.4.10 Brand Owners ........................................................................................ 62

8.5 Requirements for Group Certification .................................................................. 62

8.5.1 General Requirements ............................................................................... 63

8.5.2 Management Requirements ....................................................................... 64
8.5.3 Documentations and Records .................................................................... 65

8.5.4 Internal Audit System and Review ............................................................. 65

8.5.5 External Audit ............................................................................................. 66

8.5.6 Group Certification Approach for Country Dealers / Limited Risk Distributors
(LRD) ................................................................................................................... 70
8.5.7 Group Certification Approach for Final Product Refinement Activities ....... 71

9 Requirements for Chain of Custody .............................................................................. 74

9.1 Chain of Custody Methods .................................................................................. 74

9.2 General Requirements......................................................................................... 75

9.2.1 Conversion Factors .................................................................................... 77

9.3 Physical Segregation ........................................................................................... 78

9.3.1 General Requirements ............................................................................... 78

9.3.2 Identity Preserved or Hard IP ..................................................................... 79

9.3.3 Bulk Commodity or Soft IP ......................................................................... 80

9.4 Mass Balance ...................................................................................................... 81

© ISCC System GmbH

 III

ISCC PLUS
9.4.1 General Requirements ............................................................................... 81

9.4.2 Credit Transfer............................................................................................ 85

9.4.3 Mass Balance Bookkeeping ....................................................................... 87

9.4.4 Mass Balancing Approach .......................................................................... 88

9.4.5 Consideration of Additives, Masterbatches and Non-sustainable Organic
Content for Mass Balancing................................................................................. 92

9.4.6 Use of Consumption Factors ...................................................................... 92

9.4.7 Requirements for Mass Balancing of Renewable Electricity in Electrolysis
Processes ............................................................................................................ 92

9.4.8 Consideration of Hetero Atoms .................................................................. 93

9.4.9 Overview of Requirements for Mass Balance Audits ................................. 94

9.5 Controlled Blending ............................................................................................. 95

10 Audit Requirements and Risk Management ................................................................. 96

11 GHG Emissions ............................................................................................................ 96

11.1 Deviations with respect to Emission Factors ....................................................... 96

11.2 Calculation of Regional GHG Values for Cultivation (eec) .................................... 96

11.3 Calculation of Individual GHG Values for Cultivation (eec) ................................... 97

11.4 Aggregation of Different GHG Values.................................................................. 97

11.5 Allocation of GHG Emissions............................................................................... 97

11.6 Life Cycle Coverage ............................................................................................ 97

ANNEX I – ISCC EU and ISCC PLUS: Overview Differences ............................................... 98

ANNEX II – Social Criteria for Ocean-bound Plastic ............................................................ 103

© ISCC System GmbH

 IV

ISCC PLUS
Summary of Changes
The following is a summary of all content changes to the previous version of the document.
Other changes, e.g. corrections of spelling mistakes, are not listed.

Summary of changes made in version 3.4.2 Chapter

• The ISCC EU 203 – Traceability and Chain of Custody System

Document (v4.0) is incorporated into this version of ISCC PLUS System
Document (v3.4.2)
• Sub-chapter: Sustainability Requirements moved to sub-chapter 5.3 5.3
• Added: Sustainability Principles for forest sourcing areas
• Added footnote: “‘biomass’ means the biodegradable fraction of products, 5.5
waste and residues of biological origin from agriculture, including vegetal
and animal substances, from forestry and related industries, including
fisheries and aquaculture, as well as the biodegradable fraction of waste,
including industrial and municipal waste of biological origin”
• Added footnote: “For biogenic CO2 as a product, the conventional mass
balance regulations of ISCC PLUS apply. However, in a process
producing biogenic CO2 next to other co-products, the attribution of the
biogenic input material to the products needs to follow the chemical
reaction (trace-the-atom)”
• Added footnote: “Same production process means same manufacturing 5.6
operation for the same type of product.”
• Renaming: Potential Ocean Bound Plastic to Ocean Bound Plastic 5.7

• Updated: Figure ‘Process to determine if a material is a waste or residue’ 6

• Updated: “If ‘ISCC Compliant material’ is sold to clients that are not ISCC 8.3.3
certified and/or licensed under the ISCC Licensing Scheme, it must be
ensured that a transparent system is in place allowing the verification of
material sold as ISCC PLUS certified.”
• Updated: “The raw material complies with the sustainability criteria
according to the ISCC ‘Sustainability Requirements’ as laid down in ISCC
System Documents 202-01/-02 for agricultural biomass (or 202-03/-04 for
forest biomass)”
• Updated: Group Certification Approach for Final Product Refinement 8.5.7
Activities
• Added: “Excluding the 3% from total amount of additives is not possible” 9.4.5

• Updated: Acceptance of other certification schemes, “Provisionally, Annex I

timber from forest certified under the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)
forest management (FM) standard. (An additional verification must be
conducted to prove compliance with the requirements for the ISCC EU
202-3 Forest Biomass Principle 1.)”

© ISCC System GmbH

 5

ISCC PLUS
1 Introduction
ISCC – International Sustainability and Carbon Certification (ISCC) is a Solution provider
certification system that offers solutions for the implementation and for sustainable
certification of sustainable, deforestation-free and traceable supply chains of supply chains
agricultural, forestry, waste and residue raw materials, non-bio renewables
and recycled carbon materials and fuels. Independent third-party certification
ensures compliance with high ecological and social sustainability
requirements, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions savings (on a voluntary Entire supply
basis under ISCC PLUS) and traceability throughout the supply chain. ISCC chains and
can be applied globally in all markets including the food, feed, chemical and different markets
energy markets and for industrial applications of the respective raw materials.

ISCC applies strict rules for the conservation of valuable landscapes as well No
as the environmentally friendly and socially responsible production of compensation
agricultural and forestry raw materials. ISCC does not accept any form of accepted for
system breaches
compensation or remuneration for breaches of system requirements.

Since 2006, ISCC has continued to develop through an open multi- Multi-stakeholder
stakeholder process involving representatives from agriculture, processing organisation
and refining industries, trade and NGOs with ecological and social
backgrounds. Today, ISCC is one of the world’s leading certification systems.
The interests of the different stakeholders are represented in the ISCC
Association (ISCC e.V.). At regular regional and technical stakeholder
committees in Asia, Europe, North- and South America, experiences and
improvements of the ISCC System and further developments are discussed
and – when possible – lead to continuous improvements of the ISCC system.
ISCC operates different certification systems for different markets. These Different ISCC
systems are ISCC EU, ISCC PLUS and ISCC CORSIA. ISCC EU is a systems
certification system to demonstrate compliance with the legal sustainability
requirements specified in the Renewable Energy Directive (RED) II. ISCC
PLUS is a certification system for all markets and sectors not regulated by the
RED II, such as the food, feed or energy markets and for diverse industrial
applications. Under ISCC PLUS, all types of agricultural and forestry raw
materials, waste and residues, non-bio renewables and recycled carbon
materials and fuels are covered. ISCC CORSIA is the certification system to
demonstrate compliance with the requirements for sustainable aviation fuels
in the framework of the Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for
International Civil Aviation (CORSIA).

ISCC is also a provider of market specific solutions. The ISCC Japan FIT Market specific
standard for palm kernel shells and palm trunks sets out the requirements in solutions
compliance with the Japan FIT system approved by the Ministry for Economy,
Trade and Industry Japan. In addition, ISCC Solid Biomass NL certification
system can be used by system users to comply with the Dutch legal
sustainability requirements for solid biomass for energy applications.

© ISCC System GmbH

 6

ISCC PLUS
ISCC offers a “One-Stop-Shop” solution, as the ISCC EU and ISCC PLUS ISCC as a “One-
schemes are widely harmonized. With only one audit, an operation can obtain Stop-Shop”
both an ISCC PLUS and ISCC EU certification. The main criteria of the ISCC solution
sustainability scheme are based on the RED II sustainability requirements,
with additional sustainability requirements on environmental and social
issues, which go beyond legal requirements.
During the development of its systems, ISCC considers and complements Best practices
best practice initiatives like the International Social and Environmental
Accreditation and Labelling Alliance (ISEAL Alliance) and international
standards like the International Standard on Assurance Engagements (ISAE)
30001 and the International Organisation for Standardization (ISO). This
facilitates and enables a consistent and reliable application of ISCC,
especially with respect to quality control, risk management, planning and
conducting of audits, as well as sampling processes, surveillance and
reporting mechanisms. Furthermore, ISCC operates the ISCC Integrity
Program, a tool used to continuously monitor the performance of the ISCC
System Users and Certification Bodies (CBs) cooperating with ISCC to ensure
and maintain the high-quality standard and credibility of ISCC.

2 Scope and Normative References

As the ISCC PLUS and ISCC EU certification schemes are widely ISCC EU
harmonized, the ISCC EU System Documents, in general, apply for ISCC System
PLUS. This means that the ISCC EU System Documents also serve as Documents
apply also for
system documents for the ISCC PLUS scheme. There are some different
ISCC PLUS
requirements between ISCC EU and ISCC PLUS, especially with regard to
GHG emission calculation, which ISCC would like to emphasize in this
document. This document serves as an additional compulsory source of
information to the ISCC EU System Documents for a certification under ISCC
PLUS. This approach is intended to facilitate companies, certification bodies
and other interested parties as they only have to refer to one set of system
documents, and duplication of requirements is avoided.
The ISCC EU System Documents lay down the general ISCC system
principles, which (apart from the different requirements specified in this
document) are also valid under ISCC PLUS. These documents can be found
on the ISCC website in their currently valid version.
References made within the ISCC EU System Documents regarding the RED No application of
II requirements for sustainable fuels (for example, biofuels, bioliquids or RED II GHG
biomass fuels) also apply under ISCC PLUS for all other products such as saving
food, feed or biochemicals (e.g., “… to fulfil the requirements of the RED II is requirements
meant comparably for … to fulfil the requirements of the ISCC sustainability under PLUS
standard”). Any obligatory regulatory requirements specific to the EU biofuels

1 International Standard on Assurance Engagements 3000: Assurance Engagements other than Audits or
Reviews of Historical Financial Information.

© ISCC System GmbH

 7

ISCC PLUS
sector, such as the EU Reporting Obligation or the minimum GHG emission
saving requirement, do not apply under ISCC PLUS.

3 Governance
The ISCC EU System Document 102 “Governance” lays down the general General
principles that govern the global ISCC system. It specifies the goals and principles
internal structure of ISCC, as well as the relationship between ISCC and its
stakeholders.
The System Document 102 is applicable to both ISCC EU and ISCC PLUS.
However, it's important to note that, currently, ISCC PLUS is not a certification
scheme officially recognized by the European Commission or other
authorities. Consequently, the obligation to report its activities and status to
the European Commission does not exist at this point in time.

4 Requirements for Certification Bodies and

Auditors
The ISCC EU System Document 103, “Requirements for Certification Bodies Requirements
and Auditors”, specifies the requirements for CBs to be allowed to conduct for ISCC
certifications under the ISCC standard and, thus, duties of CBs cooperating recognition
with ISCC and performing certification services according to ISCC.
Furthermore, it lays down the requirements and necessary qualifications for
auditors conducting ISCC audits.

The System Document 103 is applicable to both ISCC EU and ISCC PLUS.

© ISCC System GmbH

 8

ISCC PLUS
5 System Basics
The ISCC EU System Document 201, “System Basics”, provides an overview Fundamentals of
of the fundamentals of the ISCC system. It outlines the ISCC system´s the ISCC system
structure and the certification criteria regarding sustainability, traceability and
the chain of custody, as well as GHG emissions (voluntary under ISCC PLUS).
The document also addresses the certification requirements for the different
participants in the supply chain. Furthermore, it describes the processes of
registration, audit, and certification, along with the requirements for the
issuance and validity of ISCC certificates.

The System Document 201 is applicable to both ISCC EU and ISCC PLUS,
with some differing requirements outlined in the subsequent sub-chapters
specific to ISCC PLUS.
Recognizing the evolving market demands not covered within the existing
ISCC PLUS system and add-ons2, ISCC is open to the development of
additional extensions. These potential extensions, encompassing voluntary
add-ons and scopes, would address a broader range of raw materials,
processes, and supply chains to meet specific market requirements.

5.1 Acceptance of other Sustainability Schemes under ISCC PLUS

Other voluntary schemes, other than ISCC, may be accepted under specific Acceptance of
circumstances. ISCC will only consider mutual recognition with other multi- certification
stakeholder voluntary schemes that also employ governance, sustainability schemes
and traceability criteria as well as integrity measures. Also, a benchmark
demonstrating equivalence of the schemes needs to be conducted. An
independent, qualified auditor must compare the interpretation of the two
standards within the framework of a pilot audit to confirm the findings of the
equivalence benchmark.
“ISCC Compliant” means that all economic operators along the supply chain ISCC Compliant
must demonstrate that the relevant ISCC standard requirements have been
fulfilled. Within ISCC PLUS, it must be guaranteed that the whole upstream
supply chain up to the farm/plantation or point of origin is entirely ISCC
certified or from a forest that is FSC Forest Management (FM) certified (see
Chapter 5.1.1). Any material used in an “ISCC Compliant” supply chain must
consist entirely of ISCC material.3 Sustainable material coming from ISCC EU
or certified raw material providers (collecting points or first gathering points or
individually certified points of origin/ farms/plantations/ forest sourcing area),
which fulfil the above “ISCC Compliant” requirement, shall contain the
statement “ISCC Compliant” on its Sustainability Declaration, in order to be
accepted under ISCC PLUS.

2 Add-ons are additional modules of ISCC, which can be used on top of the ISCC core-requirements
3 Or of FSC Forest Management (FM) certified timber. At least on a quantity bookkeeping basis (see
Chapter 9 on Traceability and Chain of Custody)

© ISCC System GmbH

 9

ISCC PLUS
The statement “ISCC Compliant” can only be made if the ISCC certified
operator has received an equivalent amount of incoming material with the
statement “ISCC Compliant” on the Sustainability Declaration. First Gathering
Points can only make this statement for deliveries from farms or plantations,
or forests that comply with the ISCC requirements. Collecting Points can only
make this statement for materials collected from points of origin that comply
with the ISCC requirements.

Incoming material with the statement “EU RED Compliant4” cannot be EU RED
accepted under ISCC PLUS. For outgoing materials, the claim “EU RED Compliant
Compliant” cannot be applied.

Currently, materials certified under any voluntary scheme other than ISCC
cannot be accepted in ISCC PLUS supply chains, with the exception of a
forest biomass that is FSC FM certified (see Chapter 5.1.1).
When a manufacturer seeks certification of a substance made from a mix of
“ISCC PLUS Compliant” and non-compliant raw materials, assurance is
needed that the amount of “ISCC PLUS compliant” substance does not
exceed the quantity and value of “ISCC PLUS compliant” raw material. Further
information on possible claims can be found in the ISCC Logos and Claims
Document.

5.1.1 Forest Biomass under ISCC PLUS

Provisionally, ISCC PLUS accepts timber from forests certified under the
Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) forest management (FM) standard, to
prove compliance with the ISCC PLUS requirements (Principles 2-6) for forest
biomass from the forest5. The acceptance is based on a benchmark
conducted with the FSC FM standard. An additional verification must be
conducted to prove compliance with the requirements for the ISCC EU 202-3
Forest Biomass Principle 1. Compliance with this principle can be proven on
the level of the management system at the forest sourcing area (individual
certification) or on a national or subnational level. Scientific literature, data
from the forest management unit or EU projects (e.g. REDIIBIO) and other
relevant data can be used to prove compliance with the requirement.

Purchasing activities of non-ISCC certified forest biomass from the forest

sourcing area up to the First Gathering Point (FGP) can only be part of the
ISCC PLUS supply chain, when the FGP is in the position to include relevant
information of the forest sourcing area. This includes the following:

> the origin of the wood (sourcing area, etc.)

> the type of wood (wood species) on the relevant batches

> the harvested forest biomass volume

4 Sustainable material has to be considered “EU RED Compliant” if the ISCC certified operator receives
deliveries from suppliers that are certified to any other recognised voluntary certification scheme in the
framework of the Renewable Energy Directive II.
5 Under the condition that the forest is not violating ISCC Principle 2, Criteria 2.1.3 Conversion of natural
and semi-natural forests to plantation forests.

© ISCC System GmbH

 10

ISCC PLUS
> the FSC Forest Management certificate

In this case, the FGP is responsible to keep and track the required information
and must inform the CB if there are any changes.

5.2 Material Eligible for ISCC PLUS Certification

Under ISCC PLUS, the following materials contributing to the development of Eligible material
the Circular Economy and Bioeconomy can be certified:

> All types of agricultural and forestry raw materials

> Biogenic wastes/residues

> Non-fossil materials

> Circular materials

> Other non-conventional feedstock

Furthermore, all materials covered under ISCC EU or ISCC CORSIA can also
be certified under ISCC PLUS. The certification of materials and products not
stated on either of these lists is potentially possible after consultation with and
confirmation by ISCC. The respective material lists indicate the relevant
information needed when submitting material requests to ISCC.

The eligible material lists are not exhaustive. The purpose is to

standardize/harmonize the material descriptions used by system users on
ISCC certificates. System users shall adhere to the material list of the
respective ISCC scheme they employ.

5.3 Sustainability Requirements

The ISCC EU System Documents ISCC EU 202-1 – Agricultural Biomass: Sustainability
ISCC Principle 1, ISCC EU 202-2 – Agricultural Biomass: ISCC Principles 2- principles for
6, provide information on the sustainability requirements for farms/plantations, farms/plantations
comprising of six sustainability principles:

1. Protection of land with high biodiversity value or high carbon stock

2. Environmentally responsible production to protect soil, water and air

3. Safe working conditions

4. Compliance with human, labour and land rights

5. Compliance with laws and international treaties

6. Good management practices and continuous improvement

Sustainability
For the forest sourcing areas, the ISCC System Documents ISCC EU 202-3
principles for
Forest Biomass: ISCC Principle 1, and ISCC EU 202-4 – Forest Biomass: forest sourcing
ISCC Principles 2-6, provide information on the sustainability requirements areas
with the sustainability principles:

© ISCC System GmbH

 11

ISCC PLUS
1. Harvesting criteria and land-use, land-use change (LUC) and forestry
(LULUCF) criteria

2. Environmentally responsible production to protect soil, water and air

3. Safe working conditions

4. Compliance with human, labour and land rights

5. Compliance with laws and international treaties

6. Good management practices and continuous improvement

These system documents, under compliance of the RED II, apply equally for
ISCC EU and ISCC PLUS.

Under ISCC, it is obligatory for the certified sites to comply with the laws,
ordinances, directives and ratified treaties of the country in which they are
located/operate, in terms of waste disposal and treatment, air, water and soil
emissions/pollutions. The processing/handling of ISCC raw material should
not lead to any type of additional emissions, pollutions and/or health hazards.

5.4 Raw Material Category

Categories for
Under ISCC PLUS, the following three raw material categories (arising at the
the type of raw
beginning of the supply chain) can be certified:
material
> Bio feedstocks are derived from virgin biomass, whereas biomass
refers to the biodegradable fraction of products from agriculture,
forestry and related industries, including fisheries and aquaculture,
e.g., corn, sugarcane, rapeseed, etc.

> Bio-circular and Circular feedstocks are materials at the beginning

of the supply chain considered as waste/ processing residue that are
not landfilled or energetically used, but instead re-used, re-distributed,
re-furbished, re-manufactured or recycled in a loop without dropping
out of the economy.

o “Bio-circular” refers to waste and residues of biological origin from

agriculture, forestry and related industries, including fisheries and
aquaculture, as well as the biodegradable fraction of industrial and
municipal waste (e.g., UCO, tall oil, food waste, etc.)

o “Circular” (incl. technical-circular) means feedstock derived from

the mechanical and/or chemical processing of recyclable materials
of non-biological origin (fossil-based). Circular feedstock can be
further differentiated into (a) organic (fossil-based) materials like
mixed plastic waste, waste textiles, end-of-life tires, etc., and (b)
inorganic materials like metals, inorganic acids, minerals, metal
salts, etc.

> Renewable-energy-derived feedstock category comprises products

which use renewable energy (e.g., renewable electricity or other

© ISCC System GmbH

 12

ISCC PLUS
renewable energy sources except for biomass) as an integral part of
the reaction (e.g., redox reactions, electrolysis, see certification
example 3 in Annex I – 4. Certification Examples and Chapter 9.4.7 on
mass balancing of electrolysis processes). The use of renewable
energy for utilities (steam, heat) or building energy consumption in a
material production process is not sufficient to claim the material as
“renewable-energy-derived”.

Renewable electricity is defined as electricity generated from

renewable non-fossil sources, namely wind, solar (solar thermal and
solar photovoltaic) and geothermal energy, ambient energy, tide, wave
and other ocean energy, hydropower, biomass, landfill gas, sewage
treatment plant gas and biogas6. If the renewable electricity is
produced from feedstocks that are covered by the raw material
categories bio, bio-circular or circular, the products produced from this
electricity are covered by that respective raw material category.

The renewability of electricity can be proven via Energy Attribute

Certificates7 (EACs) (e.g., Guarantees of Origin (GoO), in the EU or
Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs), in the US), renewable power
purchase agreements (PPAs) combined with EACs, comparable
documentation, or via a direct connection/ link of the processing unit
with the respective unit producing renewable electricity. The proof of
renewability must ensure that double counting of the renewable
electricity is avoided.
At a minimum, the following information must be part of the relevant
documentation (i.e., for EACs, etc.8):
o the energy source from which the energy carrier was produced and
the start and end dates of production

o the type of energy or energy carrier (e.g., electricity, gas – including

hydrogen, heat, or cooling)

o the identity, location, type and capacity of the installation where the
energy or energy carrier was produced

o whether the installation has benefited from investment support and

whether the unit of energy has benefited in any other way from a
national support scheme and the type of support scheme

o the date on which the installation became operational (i.e., starting

point of first electricity supply into grid)

o the date and country of issue and a unique identification number of

the REC/GoO

6 Renewable Energy Directive (EU) 2018/2001 (RED II) Article 2(1)

7 In this context, “certificate” does not mean an ISCC certificate but refers to guarantees of origin and
equivalent documents which state the source of energy used to produce the electricity and are connected
to certification systems that track electricity.
8 REDII, Article 19(7)

© ISCC System GmbH

 13

ISCC PLUS
Under ISCC PLUS, the cancelation of renewable energy certificates
for the purpose of claiming a product as renewable-energy-derived
may only take place as long as the renewable energy certificate is valid
at the time of cancellation and cancelled no later than 18 months after
the production of the respective unit of energy. A respective proof of
the unit using the renewable energy must be provided during the audit.
As a prerequisite for including renewable electricity in the ISCC PLUS
bookkeeping/ mass balance, the respective renewable energy
certificates need to have been cancelled and can no longer be used or
sold. During the certification audit, it must be verified that the certified
company does not claim the electricity used to produce renewable-
energy-derived materials in another certification scheme.

The raw material category “renewable-energy-derived” solely focus on Differentiation of

the renewable energy (e.g., renewable electricity) being an integral renewable-
part of the reaction/production process. Unlike other feedstocks, the energy-derived
raw materials contributing to the atoms or molecules of the products materials from
other raw
do not need to be ISCC compliant for renewable-energy-derived
material
products (see certification example 3 in Annex I – 4. Certification
categories
Examples). This is expressed through the added term “derived” in
comparison to the raw material categories bio, bio-circular or circular.
For product claims, it is possible to use “renewable” instead of
“renewable-energy-derived” if the production process linked to the use
of renewable energy (e.g., renewable electricity) as an integral part of
the reaction is explained via further information (i.e., company website,
CSR report, on-product QR code, etc.)
For multi-input processes with inputs from different raw material Multi-input
categories, the combination of raw material categories for outgoing processes
products is possible if this reflects the chemical reaction leading to the
presence of several inputs with different raw material categories in the
certified output (see certification example 4 in Annex I – 4. Certification
Examples). Even when combining different raw material categories,
the amounts of certified material for each raw material category need
to be kept separately in the chain of custody and traceability
documentation (i.e. mass balance, Sustainability Declarations, etc.).
For reactions of ISCC compliant input material with CO2, only the raw
material category of the ISCC compliant input material can be used to
describe the respective output (see certification examples 1 and 2 in
Annex I – 4. Certification Examples).

5.5 Requirements for CO2 Certifications

CO2 as a raw
CO2 from the following sources can be used under ISCC PLUS:
material

© ISCC System GmbH

 14

ISCC PLUS
> Biogenic CO2 which originates from biomass9

> Atmospheric CO2 from direct air capture

> Post-industrial (fossil) CO2 captured from industrial processes, which

use fossil sources to deliberately produce electricity, heat, or materials
(e.g., cement, iron and steel, petrochemical industry)

Biogenic CO2 can be certified as a product and a raw material without

additional requirements.10

Atmospheric and fossil CO2 can be certified only as a raw material if specific
requirements are fulfilled. These requirements depend on the production
setup, which uses CO2 as an input. As CO2 does not contain usable energy,
the energy needed to drive these production processes comes from other
reactants. Hence, potential certifiable setups under ISCC PLUS must fulfill the
following preconditions:

> Post-industrial or atmospheric CO2 and hydrogen as reactant

If fossil or atmospheric CO2 reacts with hydrogen, the hydrogen needs
to be ISCC compliant (bio, (bio-)circular or renewable-energy-derived
hydrogen) in order to claim products derived from the reaction of fossil
or atmospheric CO2 with H2 as ISCC compliant (see certification
example 1 in Annex I – 4. Certification Examples).

> Post-industrial or atmospheric CO2 and other materials as

reactants

CO2 is used in the chemical industry for the production of different

products (e.g., urea). The outputs of such processes can get ISCC
PLUS certified if the following two requirements are both met:

o At least one other relevant process input (reactant of fossil or

atmospheric CO2) in the production process besides the fossil or
atmospheric CO2 needs to be ISCC compliant (for relevance of
process inputs see certification example 2 in Annex I – 4.
Certification Examples).

o Only the outputs of the process can get ISCC PLUS certified, which
contain the carbon derived from the fossil or atmospheric CO2 and
/ or other ISCC compliant inputs (no attribution from CO2 to other
carbon atoms allowed).

Additionally, during the audit, it must be verified that the CO2 was not
deliberately produced for use in the above-mentioned production processes.
If these requirements are met, CO2 can be used as a raw material under ISCC

9 ‘biomass’ means the biodegradable fraction of products, waste and residues of biological origin from
agriculture, including vegetal and animal substances, from forestry and related industries, including
fisheries and aquaculture, as well as the biodegradable fraction of waste, including industrial and
municipal waste of biological origin (https://knowledge4policy.ec.europa.eu/glossary-item/biomass_en)
10 For biogenic CO2 as a product, the conventional mass balance regulations of ISCC PLUS apply.
However, in a process producing biogenic CO2 next to other co-products, the attribution of the biogenic
input material to the products needs to follow the chemical reaction (trace-the-atom).

© ISCC System GmbH

 15

ISCC PLUS
PLUS. The atoms derived from the CO2 in the products can be taken into
account to calculate the sustainable share.

For biogenic CO2, additional claims on the origin of CO2 can be made.

5.6 Post-Consumer and Pre-Consumer Materials

The ISCC approach covers post-consumer and pre-consumer waste. This can
also include inorganic waste materials entering the circular economy.

Post-consumer material is defined as material generated by households or

by commercial, industrial and institutional facilities in their role as end-users
of the product which can no longer be used for its intended purpose. This
includes returns of material from the distribution chain (see also ISO
14021:2021).
Pre-consumer material that falls under the definition of “waste or processing
residues” according to the “Process to determine if a material is a waste or
residue” (see Chapter 6, Figure 1) can also be named as “circular material/
products” under ISCC. Pre-consumer material covers, e.g., material derived
from waste streams during the system user’s manufacturing processes (see
also ISO 14021:2021). Material that is reused in the same production process
from which it was generated and can be assigned to the categories of rework,
regrind or scrap generated cannot be claimed as “circular”: Treatment of pre-
consumer material must undergo an additional processing step in order to be
claimed as “circular”, e.g., by an official waste management company or an
external company. Examples of processes involved in an additional
processing step include:

> Melting

> Extrusion

> Regranulating

> Compounding

For the internal processing of waste streams originating from non-sustainable

feedstocks, the requirements are:

> The processed material is not used in the same production process
which it originates from11

> Existence of an official waste code for the material

> Additional processing step(s)

> The proportion of the reused circular pre-consumer material

originating from the same site should be significantly lower (relevant

11 Same production process means same manufacturing operation for the same type of product. (EN
45557:2019)

© ISCC System GmbH

 16

ISCC PLUS
data must be provided, which can be based on the product or on the
production process) than the proportion of “virgin” raw material used.
If a processing unit generates a higher share of waste and thus circular
over time, evidence must be provided justifying that waste was not
intentionally generated.

If scrap originates from ISCC certified sustainable materials, then it is handled

as follows:

> If it can be processed internally, the sustainable credits remain in the

mass balance and can be further allocated to the outputs (taking into
consideration the rules for certified attribution, e.g., process
feasibility).

> If it is sold to an external facility for re- or further processing, they are
to be classified as co-product with the option to attribute sustainable
shares to any output of the production process (keeping in mind the
general requirements for certified attribution such as technical
feasibility).

> If it is discarded without any re- or further processing, it must be

considered as a production loss for the conversion
factor determination.

Concerning supply chains based on reuse and recycling of material, all ISCC
requirements regarding traceability, chain of custody and all other relevant
ISCC requirements are fully applicable.
For marketing purposes, companies must claim their input materials and
products as specific and transparent as possible to internal and external
stakeholders, e.g. referring to post-consumer and/or post-industrial feedstock.
The currently valid ISCC Logo and Claims requirements must be followed.

5.7 Ocean-bound Plastic

Ocean-bound plastic (OBP) is discarded plastic material (in all forms) located OBP
within 50 km of ocean coastlines, with a high likelihood of eventually reaching requirements
the ocean.12

In addition to the ISCC PLUS requirements for plastic materials, the following
requirements must be met to certify OBP:

> A detailed description of how the status of the material as waste is

determined.

> At least one team member of the collection team has to be interviewed
by the auditor to approve the process of identifying OBP.

12 Definition is aligned with the definitions of OBP cert, Oceancycle, Zeroplastic Ocean/Prevented Ocean
Plastic.

© ISCC System GmbH

 17

ISCC PLUS
> Collection sites must be transparently and separately listed, including
the address, geo-tag, date, team members, pictures before and after
cleaning and the amount collected for each day.

> The weight of collected amounts must be plausible and verified by the
auditor.

To ensure adherence to social criteria, all immediate social requirements (see

ANNEX II – Social Criteria for Ocean-bound Plastic) must be met. OBP
collection is to be done exclusively by full-time employees, and no
intermediate storage or sub-collectors are involved.

The company`s own and downstream claims of clients must refer to “ocean-
bound plastic” if OBP is included. Best practices include providing external
stakeholders with an explanation of OBP (e.g., a footnote indicating the 50-
kilometer range from the shoreline). OBP cannot be claimed as post-/ pre-
consumer material.

5.8 Voluntary Add-Ons under ISCC PLUS

In addition to the core requirements of ISCC PLUS, ISCC provides the option Specific market
to adapt ISCC PLUS certificates to specific market requirements through requirements
voluntary add-ons. Depending on the respective add-on, it can be applied for
the agricultural production area and for the entire supply chain on a voluntary
basis. The modular approach ensures the fulfilment of different market
requirements and continuous improvement. All voluntary add-ons can be
found on the ISCC website.

© ISCC System GmbH

 18

ISCC PLUS
6 Waste and Residues
The ISCC EU System Document 202-05 “Waste and Residues” provides the Certification of
principles for the certification of raw materials and feedstocks qualifying as waste and
“waste” or “residue”. Their supply chains and specific certification residues
requirements may differ from those of the conventional crop-based materials.
The System Document 202-05 is applicable to both ISCC EU and ISCC PLUS. Waste
According to the Waste Framework Directive 2008/98/EC (Article 3), “waste” definition
can be defined as “any substance or object which the holder discards or
intends or is required to discard”. In any case, the material has reached the
end of its intended life cycle. To be eligible for ISCC certification, this status
must be proven with relevant documentation. System users and auditors shall
use the flow chart “Process to determine if a material is a waste or residue”
(Figure 1) to determine whether the ISCC waste/residue process can be
applied to their set-ups.

Figure 1: Process to determine if a material is a waste or residue

© ISCC System GmbH

 19

ISCC PLUS
7 The Circular Economy
ISCC supports the development of the circular economy and consequently
supports reuse, recovery and recycling with its certification approach.

The concept of circular economy aims to transition our economy's actual linear
value chains into a circular form. This means, economic activity shall be
decoupled from the use of finite resources, leading to the idea of keeping
materials and products in use. Ideally, no waste is generated, but material is
reused, recovered or recycled.

7.1 Reuse, Recovery and Recycling

Reuse “means any operation by which products or components that are not Definitions
waste are used again for the same purpose for which they were conceived”.
Recovery “means any operation the principal result of which is waste serving
a useful purpose by replacing other materials which would otherwise have
been used to fulfil a particular function, or waste being prepared to fulfil that
function, in the plant or in the wider economy”.
Recycling “means any recovery operation by which waste materials are
reprocessed into products, materials or substances whether for the original or
other purposes. It includes the reprocessing of organic material but does not
include energy recovery and the reprocessing into materials that are to be
used as fuels or for backfilling operations.”13

The concept of reuse, recovery and recycling is part of the waste hierarchy Waste hierarchy
approach14 introduced by the Waste Framework Directive 2008/98/EC, which approach
shall be considered in the framework of ISCC. The waste hierarchy approach
aims to reduce and manage waste according to a cascading use of resources.
When possible, reuse should be favoured over recycling. Recycling should
only take place if the further use of the waste would have required an
additional processing step. The use of recycled material (e.g., recycled plastic
waste) decreases the extraction and use of additional carbon from finite
sources. Reducing the exploitation of fossil resources also implies less
associated extraction emissions and mitigates environmental pollution caused
by waste incineration or waste disposal on landfill sites. In addition, it
contributes to the development of a circular economy and reduces overall
waste.

7.2 Mechanical and Chemical Recycling

Recycling plastic waste is a process intended to save resources (e.g., virgin Types of
raw materials and energy) and minimize harmful environmental emissions. recycling
Thus, the collection and sorting of plastic waste should be properly designed operations

13 Waste Framework Directive 2008/98/EC, Article 3 (13-17)

14 Waste Framework Directive 2008/98/EC (31)

© ISCC System GmbH

 20

ISCC PLUS
to deliver recyclable plastic waste fractions fitting reasonably well with the
available recycling technologies and with the needs of the identified market
outlets. It is preferable that these processes incur minimal environmental and
societal costs.
Examples of recyclable input materials are plastic waste or industrial waste. Mixed plastic
“Mixed Plastic Waste (MPW)” originates, for example, from waste waste
management companies where it is separated from other waste materials and
can be recycled by further mechanical or chemical processing. This provides
additional options to promote the circular economy if a direct reuse of plastic
waste is not possible. Material covered under “MPW” must be free of paper,
biomass and/ or used tires. The point of origin must provide information on
the applicable Resin Identification Code (RIC) categories on the self-
declaration, if applicable. Group-certified Points of Origin that generate mixed
plastic waste must sign the appropriate ISCC self-declaration, assuring that
the material is a waste.

The Waste Framework Directive 2008/98/EC sets out a general order of

priorities for waste management. According to this document, recycling of
plastic material is more advantageous than energy recovery. The recycling of
plastics covers mechanical and chemical recycling technologies and
processes.

Mechanical recycling preserves the polymer structure without significant

alteration, keeping the plastic as a material. Activities of a mechanical
recycling plant can be:

> Sorting (e.g., dry/wet sorting, float/sink separation, etc.)

> Washing

> Shredding/grinding/crushing

> Compressing

> Melting/pelletizing
Chemical recycling refers to the conversion of polymers into their monomers,
chemical building blocks or basic chemicals, e.g., via depolymerization by
means of thermochemical or other chemical processes.

Considering the total energy consumption, the minimization of harmful

process emissions, the social and health protection of workers, and the
avoidance of disproportionate costs, mechanical recycling should be preferred
to chemical recycling of plastic waste. Sorting companies must have sufficient
measures and processes in place to consider these issues and to determine
how plastic waste will be recycled. The use of chemical recycling should be
complementary to mechanical treatment methods. Chemical recycling should
be applied where:

> Mechanical recycling is not technically feasible,

> Mechanical recycling is not economically viable,

© ISCC System GmbH

 21

ISCC PLUS
> Mechanical recycling leads to low-quality products, or

> Mechanical recycling has a higher negative environmental impact.

Due to the preference for mechanically recycled quantities in cascade
utilization and the described advantages, chemically and mechanically
recycled batches of materials and product quantities should be documented
separately in mass balance documentation.

7.3 Additional Requirements for Recycling according to EN 15343

Recycling under ISCC can also comply with EN 15343 (voluntary add-on
requirements) if the following conditions are met:

> Traceability aligns with the existing ISCC approach for mixed plastic Traceability
waste: for household waste (post-consumer), sorting centres are
designated as the points of origin; for (post-) industrial waste, the
industrial plant (specifically the plastic producer or converter where the
waste originates) is considered the point of origin.

> All certified operators must keep records on incoming and sorted
products as shown in table 1. Batch identification and specification of
the batch characteristics following the relevant standard (EN 15342,
15344, 15345, 15346, 15348) must be provided.

Origin of the material Material type/form

Product type
Type of waste e.g. pre-user, post user,
demolition waste
Where it came from (supplier
identification)
Date
History of waste (e.g. known contact with
hazardous substances)
Handling of the material Collection (transporter/type of transport)
Sorting
Batch size, identification and marking
Pre treatment (e.g. washing, grinding)
Storage (e.g. outside)
Test carried out before processing EN 15347 Plastics recyclate
characterisation of waste plastics
Or as appropriate for the end use
application
Process parameters Details of the process used as appropriate
Tests carried out after processing EN 15342
EN 15344
EN 15345
EN 15346
EN 15348

© ISCC System GmbH

 22

ISCC PLUS
Or any other standards as appropriate for
the end user application
Intended (suitable) application Details of appropriate or inappropriate
applications
Other optional information as agreed between buyer and seller.
This list is not exhaustive.

Table 1: Overview of additional information for sustainability documentation

To identify the recycled content of a product (percentage by weight of recycled

material in a product), the following formula is used:

𝑷𝒆𝒓𝒄𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒂𝒈𝒆 𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒚𝒄𝒍𝒆𝒅 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒅𝒖𝒄𝒕

= 𝒎𝒂𝒔𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒚𝒄𝒍𝒆𝒅 𝒎𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒍𝒔 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒅𝒖𝒄𝒕
/ 𝒕𝒐𝒕𝒂𝒍 𝒎𝒂𝒔𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒅𝒖𝒄𝒕 𝒙 𝟏𝟎𝟎

The collection and sorting scheme are properly designed to deliver recyclable Recycling
plastic waste fractions fitting with available recycling technologies and the process
needs of identified market outlets, preferably at minimum costs. The input
materials are controlled according to EN 15347.

The recycling process produces material that meets the requirements for the
intended applications. Process variables need to be recorded. For specific
applications i.e. food applications, challenge tests demonstrate that the
process is capable of delivering products with certain specified properties.
Products delivered by the process require quality control testing.
All certified operators have records of the quality control carried out including Quality
incoming materials, processes, finished materials or products (a quality assurance
management system certified to EN ISO 9001 may suitable). Specification
and standard deviation or range of values within and between batches of
materials are agreed upon between supplier and purchaser (within the
limitations of ISCC requirements). The statement of recycled content or
documentary of the previous history of the material is always available,
additional analytical methods are possible.

© ISCC System GmbH

 23

ISCC PLUS
8 Requirements for Traceability

According to the ISO, the term ‘traceability’ describes the ability to identify and Traceability
trace the origin, processing history, distribution and location of products and
materials through supply chains. Traceability includes the requirement to be
able to physically trace products and materials through supply chains but also
to be able to tell of what products are made of and how they have been
processed.

8.1 Basics

According to ISCC, economic operators along the physical supply chain have
to demonstrate compliance with the sustainability criteria of ISCC PLUS, e.g.
the raw material category and evidence that the land related sustainability
criteria of ISCC for the production of the raw materials have been fulfilled. This
information is hereafter collectively referred to as ‘sustainability
characteristics’.
A valid certificate provides evidence that the certified element complies with Supply chain
the criteria of the ISCC standard. Under ISCC, the following elements of the elements
supply chain are subject to certification:

> Farms and plantations,

> Points of origins,

> First gathering points,

> Central offices,

> Collecting points,

> Traders,

> Storage facilities,

> Processing units,

> Limited risk distributors, and

> Final product refiners.

Transport and any modes of transportation (e.g. road, rail, air, river or sea) Transportation
are not subject to certification. All relevant information regarding the transport not subject to
certification
of sustainable materials (e.g. delivery documents, means and distance of
transport, and respective greenhouse gas emissions) are covered by the
certification of the aforementioned economic operators.

Evidence of the sustainability characteristics of a sustainable material is Sustainability

documented and forwarded through the supply chain by using ‘Sustainability Declarations
Declarations’. A ‘Sustainability Declaration’ is a delivery document containing
relevant information about the sustainable material that has to be issued by

© ISCC System GmbH

 24

ISCC PLUS
the supplier for each delivery of sustainable material. In the rest of this
document, the term ‘Sustainability Declaration’ is uniformly used.

Elements of the supply chain that are not certified cannot handle material as Certification
sustainable and are not allowed to issue Sustainability Declarations according required
to this standard. Recipients of sustainable materials have to ensure that their
supplier was certified at the date of the physical dispatch of the material. All
the valid certificates are displayed on the ISCC website. In the case of doubt,
ISCC must be contacted to verify the validity of certificates.

Self-declarations are forms that have to be completed and signed by farms or Self-declarations
plantations and points of origin for waste and residues materials before they
can deliver sustainable material into the supply chain. This is a mandatory
requirement for farms/plantations and points of origins which are not
individually certified.
Under ISCC, the identification and tracking of the origin, processing history, Step-by-step
distribution and location of materials can be done “step-by-step” through the traceability
entire supply chain (Figure 2). The information provided on the Sustainability
Declarations that are passed through the supply chain is crucial for this
approach.

Figure 2: Step-by-Step Traceability of Sustainability Characteristics through

Sustainability Declarations

8.2 Minimum Requirements for the Management System

The management system describes the scope of responsibilities and internal Appropriate
company processes and procedures for ensuring that an economic operator management
system
is able to implement and update all of the requirements for achieving the
objectives of this standard. The management system must ensure that good
management practices with respect to sustainability, traceability and chain of
custody requirements are applied at every critical control point. All the
elements of the supply chain have to ensure that their management system
covers these requirements.

Any audit for verifying compliance with the requirements of this standard is Site specific
related to a legal entity at a specific site (defined as being a geographical requirements
location with precise boundaries).If economic operators outsource or delegate

© ISCC System GmbH

 25

ISCC PLUS
tasks related to sustainability, traceability or chain of custody requirements to
service providers (e.g. transport, storage or processing of sustainable
materials), they must ensure that the service providers comply with the ISCC
requirements. This includes contractual agreements and the distribution of
relevant information and documentation between the certified economic
operator and the service providers.
The management system has to be adequate regarding the nature, scope and Risk
quantity of the required activities. Risk management factors also have to be management
considered when designing the management system (see ISCC EU System
Document 204 “Risk Assessment”).

8.2.1 Responsibilities of the Management

The management of a company has to commit itself in writing to comply with Commitment of
ISCC requirements, and this commitment has to be made available to the management
employees, suppliers, customers and other interested parties.
The management of a company has to conduct regular internal audits Internal audits
regarding compliance with this standard.

The management has to identify and nominate competent employees at Key employee
critical control points whose tasks include the implementation and task
maintenance of processes and documentation to ensure the compliance of
the company with all relevant requirements of this standard. In this respect, it
is a key task of the management to provide adequate training to those
employees. The tasks of the employees include:

1 Sourcing, first gathering or registration of incoming sustainable

products, identification of origin and evaluation of the quantity of
sustainable products and – if applicable – related GHG emissions

2 Conversion or processing of sustainable products and/or evaluation of

the portion of sustainable products and – if applicable – related GHG
emissions
3 Delivery, storage, sales and distribution of sustainable products and
evaluation of the quantity of sustainable products and – if applicable –
related GHG emissions
4 Quantity-bookkeeping, reporting, documentation, issuing
Sustainability Declarations or other documents within the scope of
points (1) to (3)

5 Planning and/or execution of self-assessments and internal audits

8.2.2 Procedures, Reporting and Documentation

The internal company procedures with respect to the relevant requirements Internal
according to this standard must be documented in writing. This documentation documentation
has to contain at least the following elements:

1 Description of the company’s internal material flows

© ISCC System GmbH

 26

ISCC PLUS
2 Organisational structure, responsibilities and authorities with respect
to sustainability and chain of custody requirements (and – if applicable
– GHG requirements)
3 Procedures related to traceability and the chain of custody regarding
all requirements in this standard

The company has to establish and maintain a reporting system that satisfies Critical control
the requirements and operates effectively and efficiently. Furthermore, it has points
to guarantee that relevant records are kept for all critical control points. These
records must always ensure a clear link between products, product flow and
documentation. Companies have to provide, at a minimum, the following
records:
1 Plant operation permit, including layout plan and capacities of storage
facilities
2 Records of incoming and outgoing sustainable products (e.g.
weighbridge tickets, bill of lading and Sustainability Declarations)

3 Records of any internal processing of sustainable products, including

the respective yields/conversion factors
4 Records on the periodic reporting on opening and closing stock for
incoming and outgoing sustainable and non-sustainable material

5 List and contracts with all suppliers (including farms/ plantations,

points of origins and certified suppliers) and recipients of sustainable
material
6 List and contracts with subcontractors and service providers related to
sustainable products

7 Records regarding data transfer to the certification system chosen by

this company or to the relevant public authority in charge or to the
certification body which conducted the audit with respect to this
standard

8 Records regarding the transfer of data to and from any sustainability

databases used

9 Records of internal audits, non-conformities with this standard, related

corrective actions and/or identified discrepancies within the
documentation

10 Records of other certification standards with comparable scopes used,

non-conformities with these standards and related corrective actions,
and, if applicable, information on withdrawn or suspended certificates
11 A version of the ISCC Terms of Use in force

All companies have to operate a periodic reporting system (e.g. monthly and Periodic
yearly/calendar year) regarding the incoming quantities and storage levels at reporting system
the beginning and end of the period, and the outgoing quantities of sustainable

© ISCC System GmbH

 27

ISCC PLUS
and non-sustainable products. Companies are obliged to inform their
certification body immediately if any discrepancies occur in the
documentation, reporting and material flow.
All companies handling and supplying sustainable products to other Transfer of
companies are obliged to provide their recipients with all of the necessary information
documents and sustainability and – if applicable – GHG information in the
scope of this standard.

Furthermore, the company must keep all the relevant records and documents Retention period
(as hard copies and/or electronically) for at least five years.

Documents and information are to be treated as confidential and must not be

made accessible to unauthorised third parties.

8.2.3 Qualification and Training of Employees

The company has to ensure that all members of staff responsible for and Competent staff
working on the implementation and maintenance of the sustainability,
traceability, chain of custody and – if applicable – GHG requirements shall be
competent and have the appropriate training, education, skills and experience.
For this, the company must:
1 Establish and implement a training plan regarding the critical control
points and covering the positions involved in its chain of custody
system

2 Keep records of the trainings provided to staff in relation to this

standard
8.2.4 Technical Equipment

The company has to identify, provide and maintain the infrastructure and Technical
technical facilities required to ensure effective implementation and facilities
maintenance of the requirements of this standard.

8.2.5 Internal Audits

The company has to conduct internal audits at least once a year covering all Annual internal
the relevant requirements of this standard and establish corrective and audit
preventive measures if required. Relevant service providers and
subcontractors have to be taken into account for the internal audits.

The internal audit report has to be reviewed by the company’s management

at least once a year.

8.3 General Information and Documentation Requirements

Appropriate information and documentation for incoming and outgoing

sustainable material are crucial for fulfilling the traceability and chain of
custody requirements under this standard. This subchapter provides an
overview of the general requirements for information and documentation that

© ISCC System GmbH

 28

ISCC PLUS
have to be kept by all economic operators along the supply chain and verified
during the audit.

> Information requirements include requirements for Self-Declarations

and Sustainability Declarations

> Documentation requirements include records and documents on

traceability and quantity bookkeeping, which must be complete, up-to-
date and accessible at the certified supply chain element

The requirements in this section referring to incoming material are not

applicable to farms and plantation or points of origin.

8.3.1 General Requirements

Companies have to keep the following records for all incoming and outgoing Incoming and
sustainable materials respectively: outgoing
materials
> List with names and addresses of suppliers and recipients of
sustainable products

> Contracts with relevant subcontractors/service providers, suppliers

and recipients of sustainable products

> Sustainability Declarations, weighbridge tickets, bills of lading or other

documentation for all incoming and outgoing sustainable material

> Quantity bookkeeping for sustainable and non-sustainable material

and, if applicable, a mass balance calculation

> In the case of individual GHG calculations, the GHG calculation itself,
as well as the input data used for the calculation
Records and documentation on traceability, quantity bookkeeping, mass Disclosure of all
balance and – if applicable – GHG emissions have to be up to date. They must schemes used
be fully accessible to the auditor in the audit process. If, at the time of the
audit, a company is also certified under other sustainability certification
schemes with comparable scopes or has been certified in the twelve months
prior to the audit, information on the other certifications has to be provided to
the auditor, including the name of the scheme and certification scope (see
also ISCC 201 “System Basics”). Furthermore, all records regarding the
quantity bookkeeping and mass balance calculations for the other certification
schemes used have to be made available to the auditor. This is crucial to verify
that no double-accounting (or multiple accounting) of sustainable material is
taking place. For further information, see also Chapter 9.2. This should also
mitigate the risk of scheme hopping, i.e. economic operators getting certified
under another scheme to avoid recertification and thus avoid the inspection of
requirements and transactions conducted under the previously used
certification scheme.

If the company uses sustainability and traceability databases, all records of Traceability
incoming and outgoing data transfers have to be made available to the auditor. databases

© ISCC System GmbH

 29

ISCC PLUS
8.3.2 General Requirements for Sustainability Declarations

Sustainability information of the materials is forwarded within the supply chain Link to material
through Sustainability Declarations. A Sustainability Declaration is always
linked to a specific batch of material. The Sustainability Declaration covers the
sustainable amount of material of a delivery.15

The interrelation of a Sustainability Declaration and the respective physical Chain of custody
delivery depends on the chain of custody option applied. This means that in option
the case of segregated deliveries, the information on the Sustainability
Declaration reflects the product physically delivered. If the traceability is based
on mass balance, the Sustainability Declaration does not necessarily reflect
the product physically delivered. The Sustainability Declaration must at least
reflect the product group of the physically delivered product. A product group
is defined by similar physical or chemical characteristics, heating values
and/or conversion factors (i.e. soybean is a different product group to
rapeseed). This means, for example, that it is not permissible to issue a
Sustainability Declaration referring to soybean for a physical delivery of
rapeseed. Fossil fuels and biofuels are different product groups. Even if
sustainable renewable fuels, biofuels or fossil fuels have similar chemical
characteristics, a fossil fuel cannot be regarded as non-sustainable material
within a specific product group.

A supplier of sustainable material must be in possession of a valid certificate Valid certification

on the date of the dispatch of the sustainable material. The supplier must also
be in possession of a valid certificate on the date of issuance of the
Sustainability Declaration if the date of dispatch and the date of issuance
differ. A Sustainability Declaration cannot be issued outside the validity period
of a certificate. A recipient of sustainable material is obliged to verify whether
the supplier was in possession of a valid ISCC certificate on the date of the
dispatch of the sustainable material and at the date of issuance of the
Sustainability Declaration. If the supplier was not in possession of a valid
certificate on either of the dates, the recipient should not accept the respective
Sustainability Declaration. All valid, suspended and withdrawn ISCC
certificates are displayed on the ISCC website. If there is any uncertainty,
economic operators must contact ISCC for clarification. The receipt of
sustainable material is also only possible if the recipient has a valid certificate
(for exemptions for first gathering points and collecting points see Chapter
8.4).

The recipient of the Sustainability Declaration has to check whether all Complete and
relevant information according to this standard is available and consistent. correct
information
Sustainability Declarations that are obviously lacking information or containing
incorrect or inconsistent information should not be accepted by the recipient.
In such cases, the supplier of the Sustainability Declaration should be asked
for a corrected document.

15 Non-sustainable parts of the delivery cannot be included in the amount of certified material stated on a
Sustainability Declaration.

© ISCC System GmbH

 30

ISCC PLUS
The recipient of a Sustainability Declaration can generally trust that data
Due diligence
received from certified suppliers is correct. If the recipient of the Sustainability and protection of
Declaration has demonstrated due diligence by verifying the validity of the trust
supplier’s certificate and checking the incoming Sustainability Declaration for
complete and correct information as described above, the information
provided on the incoming Sustainability Declaration can be regarded as
covered by protection of trust.

If there is incorrect information, it may be possible for the issuing party Cancellation of a
(supplier) to cancel or correct a Sustainability Declaration under the condition Sustainability
Declaration
that the recipient has not used (i.e. forwarded) the incorrect Sustainability
Declaration and cancels or corrects the corresponding information from the
mass balance. The supplier of the Sustainability Declaration has to inform the
recipient, their respective CB and ISCC in writing about the intention to cancel
or correct one or more specified Sustainability Declarations. The CB of the
recipient must confirm in writing to the supplier, their CB and ISCC that the
request was received and documented. The supplier may then issue corrected
Sustainability Declarations. The CB of the supplier shall also document a non-
conformity in the audit procedure of the supplier (providing incorrect data to
recipients). In the next scheduled audit, the CB of the recipient has to verify
that the Sustainability Declarations have been cancelled or corrected in the
recipient’s mass balance. Should the supplier and/or the recipient change the
CB for the next audit, the newly contracted CB must be informed accordingly
to ensure that the specific transactions are covered in the next scheduled
audit.
To handle returns of sustainable material, the following options exist: Material returns

Option 1: The intended recipient of the product does not accept the
(defective) goods, i.e. they are returned to the supplier. In case a Sustainability
Declaration has already been issued (30 days timeframe), the supplier could
re-book the goods in its bookkeeping, as long as the refused acceptance is
documented and verifiable for the auditor.

Option 2: The goods are returned and the customer issues a Sustainability
Declaration to the supplier. In this case, the supplier must have booked out
the corresponding quantity in the bookkeeping. The returned goods can then
be booked in again (based on the information provided in the new
Sustainability Declaration).

When reporting on the type of raw material, the relevant definitions of the Application of
ISCC Material List have to be applied. See ISCC EU System Document 201 definitions
“System Basics” for a list with relevant definitions.

The timely issuing and receipt of sustainability characteristics is crucial for the Timely issuing
documentation and verification of the quantity bookkeeping. For this reason,
the supplier should issue Sustainability Declarations no later than 30 days
following the date of the physical dispatch of the sustainable material.

© ISCC System GmbH

 31

ISCC PLUS
It is possible to aggregate Sustainability Declarations for a number of
Aggregation of
deliveries of batches of material, i.e. to issue one Sustainability Declaration Sustainability
for a number of deliveries of sustainable material. In order to do so, the Declarations
following conditions have to be fulfilled:

> All material has identical sustainability characteristics

> The period for all deliveries should not exceed one month. The whole
delivery period has to be stated in the Sustainability Declaration.

> Each individual delivery must be documented by weighbridge tickets

or similar documents to allow the verification of the overall amount and
the delivery dates of the entire batch.

> The locations from where the material is supplied to the location where
the material is received must not change during the delivery period.

Issuing more than one Sustainability Declaration for the same batch of
material is not permitted.
Sustainability Declarations must contain the information that is stated in this No provision for
document. However, no provisions are made with regard to the form or layout layout
of the Sustainability Declarations. Economic operators can develop a template
for a delivery note which includes all the required sustainability information.
Alternatively, they can attach a document with the required sustainability
information to existing delivery documents (e.g. bill of lading). ISCC provides
templates for Sustainability Declarations, e.g., for raw materials, intermediate
products and products. The use of the templates is voluntary. The templates
are available as downloads on the ISCC website.

8.3.3 General Information of Sustainability Declarations

The following general information must be available on Sustainability Content of

Declarations for all incoming sustainable material as well as on the Sustainability
Declarations
Sustainability Declarations issued by the certified party for all sustainable
output material. Specific information requirements for each supply chain
element are included in Chapter 8.4.

Under ISCC PLUS, specific information is required for Sustainability

Declarations.

General information
Information to be
> Name and address of the supplier forwarded

> Name and address of the recipient

> Related contract number

> Date of dispatch of the sustainable material

> Address of dispatch/shipping point of the sustainable material

> Certificate number of the supplier

© ISCC System GmbH

 32

ISCC PLUS
> Date of the issuance of the Sustainability Declaration

> The number of the group member (in case of group certification)

> Unique number of the Sustainability Declaration

> Statement “ISCC Compliant”

Product related information

Mandatory information:

> Type of product (e.g. raw material, crude oil, etc.)

> Quantity of sustainable part of the delivered product (respectively,

quantity of sustainable part of produced batch) in metric tons or m3 at
15°C or MWh (for biogas/biomethane)16

> Raw material category (see Chapter 5.4)

> For all circular and bio-circular materials:

o Statement “The raw material meets the definition of waste or
residues, i.e., was not intentionally produced and modified or
contaminated or discarded, to meet the definition of waste or
residues (applicable to waste and residues and products produced
from those)”

> Status post-consumer / pre-consumer material/ mixed (if applicable)

> Type of recycling operations (if applicable)

> For bio materials:

o Statement “The raw material complies with the sustainability criteria
according to the ISCC ‘Sustainability Requirements’ as laid down in
ISCC System Documents 202-01/-02 for agricultural biomass (or
202-03/-04 for forest biomass)”

> Information on chain of custody option applied: “physical

segregation”, “mass balance”, “controlled blending”

> Type of mass balance option

> If multi-site credit transfer was applied (if once applied in the supply
chain this information must be forwarded by all downstream entities)
Voluntary information:

> Total quantity of delivery

> Raw material (e.g. corn, UCO, MPW)

16 If a product consists of a sustainable part (derived or attributed from certified input material) and a
non-sustainable part (derived or attributed from non-certified input material), only the quantity of the
sustainable part of the product has to be included on the SD. The total quantity of the delivery including
the non-sustainable part of the product can be stated additionally (see “voluntary information”).

© ISCC System GmbH

 33

ISCC PLUS
> Country of origin of the raw material

> Statement on applied add-ons in case of the application of add-ons

under ISCC PLUS, the following additional product-related
information can be stated on the Sustainability Declaration:

1) Name(s) of add-on(s), under which the equivalent amount of material

has been certified or acquired

2) For add-on 205-01 “GHG Emissions”:

• Statement of GHG emissions of product in kg CO2eq emissions per

ton of product (either use of disaggregated default value or
individually calculated GHG value)
• Means of transport and transporting distance (only in case the
disaggregated default value for transport is not applied)
• Voluntary: Separation of different emission sources along the
supply chain
3) For add-on 202-03 “SAI Gold”:

• “ISCC Compliant” material including the add-on “SAI Gold” can be

claimed as “Equivalent to FSA 2.0 Gold Level”
4) For add-on 205-02 “Consumables”:

• Relevant consumables, which are transferred (e.g. water

consumption) and individual value in the respective unit per product
(e.g. in litre water/ton product)

Deliveries of ISCC certified material must always be accompanied by the Documentation

Sustainability Declaration. If “ISCC Compliant material” is sold to clients that for deliveries to
are not ISCC certified and/or licensed under the ISCC Licensing Scheme, it non-certified
clients
must be ensured that a transparent system is in place allowing the verification
of material sold as ISCC PLUS certified. Relevant documentation must be
issued to allow third party verifiers to trace incoming and outgoing flows of
material even if buyers of sustainable material do not require to receive a
Sustainability Declaration (e.g. retail). Documentation must at least refer to
evidence on other types of delivery documents as well as book-keeping
requirements for the mass balance(s).
In case the GHG Add-on is used, one of the following options has to be GHG information
applied for the GHG emission information. Please see ISCC EU System
Document 205 “Greenhouse Gas Emissions” for further information.

1 Statement: “Use of total default value”, OR

2 Statement that disaggregated default values are used. In this case the
statement “Use of disaggregated default value for (respective
calculation formula element)” has to be made on the Sustainability
Declaration. Further specifications have to be made if relevant:

© ISCC System GmbH

 34

ISCC PLUS
• Process technology, e.g. for a palm oil mill, the following statement
could be made: “Use of disaggregated default value for processing
(process with methane capture at the oil mill”).

• If the disaggregated default value does not cover the entire pathway
of the element (e.g. for a sunflower oil refinery the following
statement could be made “Use of disaggregated default value
(DDV) for oil extraction only”), AND/OR

3 Statement of an actual value in kg CO2eq per dry-ton of product. If

applicable, for raw materials and intermediary products the information
on GHG emissions have to be provided in the unit kg CO2eq/dry-ton
of raw material or kg CO2eq/dry-ton of intermediary product
respectively. For etd (transport and distribution) the means of transport
and the transportation distance from the supplier to the recipient have
to be included on the Sustainability Declaration
In case of using option 2 or 3 the relevant calculation formula elements have
to be reported separately:

> eec: Emissions from the extraction or cultivation of raw materials (not
relevant for waste and residues)

> ep: Emissions from processing

> etd: Emissions from transport and distribution
If one or more of the elements below was calculated, only option 3 can be
applied. In this case, separate reporting has to be included for every relevant
element:

> el: Emissions from carbon stock changes caused by land-use change
(if applicable, the bonus for severely degraded land eB of 29 g CO2/MJ
can be taken into account) (see ISCC EU System Document 205
“GHG Emissions”). This information has to be explicitly stated in the
Sustainability Declaration

> esca: Emissions savings from soil carbon accumulation via improved
agricultural management can be applied for improved agricultural and
manure management if animal manure is used as substrate for the
production of biogas and biomethane. (see ISCC EU System
Document 205 “GHG Emissions”) This information has to be explicitly
stated in the Sustainability Declaration

> eccs: Emission savings from carbon capture and geological storage
> eccr: Emission savings from carbon capture and replacement

Important note: Only actual values (including NUTS2 values for extraction
and cultivation eec) can be stated in kg CO2eq emissions per dry-ton of
product. For the other options no values but only the statements (‘use of

© ISCC System GmbH

 35

ISCC PLUS
total default value’ or ‘use of disaggregated default value for the relevant
element of the supply chain’) are provided on the Sustainability Declaration.

8.3.4 Information Requirements for Internal Company Processes

No Sustainability Declarations are issued for internal processes within an Information for
operational unit. However, in order to ensure that the amount of outgoing quantity
bookkeeping
sustainable material does not exceed the amount of incoming sustainable
materials the economic operator must carry out periodical reporting. This
provides the basis for the quantity bookkeeping (e.g. the mass balance). The
following records have to be maintained if an economic operator stores
sustainable material or conducts processes that impact on the physical and/or
chemical properties of the sustainable material:

> Description of internal processes (oil extraction, refining, esterification,

dehydration, blending, co-processing or other) and key data

> Quantities of raw materials if they are not identical with the incoming
sustainable product (e.g. share of sugar beet syrup used for ethanol
production within an integrated sugar mill/ethanol plant)

> Quantities of co-products, if required for GHG calculation or other

purposes

> Quantities of waste or residues if required for GHG calculation or other

purposes

> Relevant yields/conversion factors

> Allocation factors (if applicable)

> GHG process emissions (if applicable)

> Date of production (if required)

8.3.5 Self-Declarations/Self-Assessments
The obligation for certification according to this standard starts with the first Mandatory self-
gathering point and collecting point respectively. Farms or plantations and declaration/ self-
assessment
points of origin of waste and residue materials may gain individual certification
or group certification under a central office on a voluntary basis. All farms or
plantations that are not individually certified must conduct an annual self-
assessment and provide a signed self-declaration/self-assessment to the first
gathering point or central office. All points of origin that are not individually
certified have to provide a signed self-declaration to the collecting point or
central office.

A self-declaration is an important document to ensure the traceability of Traceability and

sustainable material up to the farm/plantation or point of origin. By signing the access
self-declaration, a farm/plantation or point of origin declares compliance with
all legal obligations and the relevant ISCC requirements, confirms the type of
raw material provided as sustainable and confirms that they will give external
auditors access to the premises to verify conformity with the ISCC

© ISCC System GmbH

 36

ISCC PLUS
requirements. First gathering points, collecting points and central offices can
only accept material as sustainable from farms/plantations or points of origins,
respectively, if they have received a signed self-declaration. No party other
than the farm/plantation or point of origin is allowed to sign the self-
declarations with the exception of FPR Group certification approach (see
Chapter 8.5.7). Farms/plantations and points of origin must provide the signed
self-declaration to no party (e.g. local agents or dependent collecting points)
other than the certified first gathering point, central office or collecting point.

ISCC provides templates of self-declarations/ self-assessment forms for farms Templates

and plantations and self-declarations for points of origin respectively. The available
templates are available in several languages to download from the ISCC
website. The templates themselves or the exact wording from the templates
must be used.

There are three options for the application of self-declarations: Options to apply
self-declarations
1 The self-declaration is completed and signed for every single delivery
of sustainable material

2 The self-declaration is used for all deliveries within a contract between

the first gathering point and farm/ plantation or collecting point and
point of origin respectively

3 The content of the self-declaration is transferred with exactly the same

words into the contract between the first gathering point and farm/
plantation or the collecting point and point of origin respectively

Under options 2 and 3, the self-declaration has a validity of twelve months,

starting from the date of issuing.
For points of origins a fourth option is available: a combination of a clause in Additional option
the contract between the point of origin and the collecting point and the for points of
origins
availability of the self-declaration template on the website of the collecting
point.
The contract has to contain an unambiguous statement, e.g. “By signing, the
self-declaration as published on the website (URL of the collecting point
website) applies and is a valid part of this agreement for the contractual period.
If no objection is made by the customer up to twelve days before the expiry of
each calendar year of this agreement, the self-declaration is confirmed for the
following year”.

On the website where the template of the self-declaration is available to

download a further unambiguous statement must be included, e.g. "The self-
declarations for deliveries of – used cooking oil - (can also be other materials)
on this page are a valid part of the contract between (company) and its
customers. The self-declaration will be presented to the customer either within
the contract or within the terms and conditions. If the self-declaration is part of
the written contract, it shall be considered to be accepted from the effective
date of the contract. If the self-declaration is included in the terms and
conditions, then it shall be considered to be accepted if the customer does not
© ISCC System GmbH
 37

ISCC PLUS
submit an objection to (company) within 14 days after the terms and conditions
have been presented to them. If the customer does not object, this will be
considered as an agreement to the terms and conditions. The self-
declarations will be considered to be accepted after the 14 days have passed".
Self-Declarations/ Self-Assessment for Farms or Plantations with ISCC
PLUS Add-ons:

Farms/plantations covered under the certificate of a First Gathering Point or Annually signed
Central Office conduct an annual self-assessment and provide the signed self- self-declarations
declarations to the First Gathering Point or Central Office. If farms/plantations
voluntary add-ons are additionally certified, the respective farms/plantations
have to additionally complete the “ISCC PLUS self-declaration for add-ons”
and provide it to the First Gathering Point or Central Office. The templates of
the self-declarations are available on the ISCC website.
During the audit, the First Gathering Point or Central Office has to provide a
list of all farms/plantations with names and addresses of contact persons who
signed the ISCC self-declaration within the past twelve months. If farmers
apply one or more ISCC PLUS add-ons, this must be clearly indicated on the
list.

8.4 Specific Requirements for Elements of the Supply Chain

This section describes the individual supply chain elements and their specific
requirements relevant under this standard.

8.4.1 Farms or Plantations

Farms or plantations under this standard are agricultural operations where Certification
crops are sustainably cultivated, or where agricultural crop residues from options
sustainable cultivation occur. A farm or plantation is defined as a distinct legal
entity17 which has control regarding compliance with ISCC requirements. (see
also Annex II regarding the identification of farms/plantations).
Farms or plantations have three options to participate under this standard:

> Individual certification

> As part of a group of farms organised under a central office18

> As part of a group of farms delivering to a first gathering point
Farms and plantations participating in group certification have to conduct a Self-assessment
self-assessment and sign a self-declaration either to the first gathering point and self-
declaration
or to the central office responsible for the group. A copy of the self-

17 Defined as ‘an association, corporation, partnership, proprietorship, trust, or individual that has legal
standing in the eyes of law. A legal entity has legal capacity to enter into agreements or contracts, assume
obligations, incur and pay debts, sue and be sued in its own right, and to be held responsible for its actions.’
http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/legal-entity.html
18 For independent smallholders, please refer to Independent Smallholder (ISH) Certification
(https://www.iscc-system.org/certification/independent-smallholder-certification/)

© ISCC System GmbH

 38

ISCC PLUS
assessment/self-declaration has to be available during the audit.
Farms/plantations participating in group certification do not receive an
individual certificate, as they will be covered by the certificate of the first
gathering point or the central office.
Biomass produced on land that complies with ISCC Principles 1 – 6 (please Compliance with
see Chapter 5.3) is considered sustainable. The ISCC Principle 1 specifies land-related
requirements
the land-related legal requirements that must always be complied with.
Violations of ISCC Principle 1 are critical non-conformities and cannot be
subject to corrective measures. ISCC Principles 2-6 cover social, ecological
and economic requirements. They are divided into ‘immediate requirements’,
‘short-term requirements, ‘mid-term requirements’ and ‘best practice
requirements’.

A farm or plantation must comply with all requirements stated in ISCC Immediate
Principle 1 and all immediate requirements of ISCC Principles 2-6 when it requirements
starts supplying sustainable material. Immediate requirements cover relevant
EU regulations (e.g. Cross Compliance regulations, good agricultural practice
requirements, relevant social legislation). In EU Member States which have
implemented Cross Compliance (CC), farmers that fulfil the CC criteria
through implementation and official recognition of CC are only audited with
respect to the requirements set out in ISCC Principle 1 and criteria that are
not covered by EU legislation.
The short-term and mid-term requirements specified in ISCC Principles 2-6 Continuous
have to be implemented as part of a continuous improvement process over a improvement
process
specified period of 3 years and 5 years respectively. Additionally, farms or
plantations can choose to implement the best practice requirements. Best
practice requirements fulfilled by a farm or plantation can be highlighted on
Sustainability Declarations and/or certificates.

The audit of a farm or plantation must always cover the entire land area No cherry picking
(agricultural land, pasture, forest, or any other land) of the farm or plantation,
including any owned, leased or rented land. The area of the farm or plantation
relevant for ISCC certification is not limited to areas where sustainable
material is cultivated. Selecting particular areas of the farm or plantation that
comply with ISCC requirements but not the areas of the farm or plantation that
may not comply with the requirements (“cherry picking”) is not permitted under
ISCC.

Farms or plantations that are audited non-compliant with ISCC requirements Non-compliance
or that refuse to participate in an audit must be excluded from ISCC until the
respective farm or plantation passes a successful ISCC audit on its own
initiative. ISCC must be informed by the CB about farms which are audited
and found to be non-compliant or which refuse to be audited as a part of a
sample (see also Chapter 8.5.5).
Farms and plantations are obliged to enable the full assessment and Service
providers and
evaluation of all applicable ISCC requirements, including relevant activities
sub-contractors
which are outsourced to sub-contractors or service providers. Relevant sub-

© ISCC System GmbH

 39

ISCC PLUS
contractors or service providers, e.g. for the application of plant protection
products, must be included in the farm audit if this is necessary to evaluate
full compliance with ISCC. This should be included in contractual agreements
between the farmer and the relevant sub-contractors and service providers as
appropriate. Contractual agreements must be accessible during the ISCC
audit.
Farms or plantations do not need to operate a mass balance system. Plausibility check
However, the chain of custody requirements include the documentation of
amounts and origin of material as well as documentation reflecting that the
yield per hectare times field size in hectare is plausible compared to the
related quantity of biomass stored and delivered as either sustainable or non-
sustainable. This is relevant for the plausibility check in the framework of the
audit.

Additional Audit Requirements for Farms or Plantations

The farm or plantation has to provide the following records:

> Total area of the farm/ plantation classified as pasture, cropland and
other areas (such as compensation area, set-aside-land, forest etc.),
including all rented and leased areas for the respective certification
period

> Statement of the field numbers, field sizes, field status, crop, yield for
the respective certification period (usually part of the field/crop report)

> List of all recipients of sustainable crops or crop residues (first

gathering points, storage facilities, processing units etc.) with names
and addresses

> Contracts with all first gathering points which have been supplied with
sustainable crops or crop residues

> Records of amounts of each crop or agricultural crop residues

delivered as sustainable or unsustainable (classified per crop)

> Copy of the signed self-declaration/ self-assessment form for the

respective certification period (not applicable for individually certified
farms or plantations)

> Contracts with subcontractors (e.g. harvesting, spraying)

Farms or plantations delivering to a first gathering point have to receive a

document from the first gathering point with the following information for each
delivery of sustainable material:

> Name and address of the first gathering point, and if the material is
delivered to storage facilities related to the first gathering point, the
names and addresses of the storage facilities

> Name and address of the farm or plantation

© ISCC System GmbH

 40

ISCC PLUS
> Unique batch number
> Type(s) of crop or agricultural crop residue
> Weight of the delivered crop(s) or agricultural crop residue(s) in metric
tons

> Date of receipt of sustainable crop(s) or agricultural crop residue(s)

> If GHG Add-on is applied, GHG emissions information (see below)

Additional Requirements for Sustainability Declarations issued by

Farms or Plantations
Farms or plantations that are certified individually or as part of a central office Issuing of
have to issue Sustainably Declarations for their outgoing raw material Sustainability
Declarations
(sustainable crops or agricultural crop residues). In addition to the general
information stated in Chapter 8.3.2 the following information has to be
included:

> Group member number (in case of certification under a central office)
> – If applicable – GHG emissions information for emissions from
extraction and cultivation (eec)
1 Statement: “Use of total default value”, OR

2 Statement “Use of disaggregated default value for cultivation (eec)”,

if the requirements of the RED II are fulfilled (i.e. if a default value
for the crop exists

3 Statement of an actual value in kg CO2eq/dry-ton of biomass.

For the two elements stated below individual calculations are required.
If applicable, the respective values also need to be forwarded
separately on the Sustainability Declaration:

• el: Emissions from carbon stock changes caused by land-use

change (and separate information if the bonus for severely
degraded land eB can be applied) (see ISCC EU System
Document 205 “GHG Emissions”)

• esca: Emissions savings from soil carbon accumulation via

improved agricultural management (and separate information
if the bonus for animal manure used as substrate can be
applied) (see ISCC EU System Document 205 “GHG
Emissions”)

8.4.2 Central Office for Farms/Plantations

A central office is the representative body of at least one group of Group

homogeneous farms or plantations that are certified as an independent group certification
of agricultural producers. A group of farms or plantations is regarded as

© ISCC System GmbH

 41

ISCC PLUS
homogeneous if they are, for example, located in geographic proximity and
are similar in their size, cultivated crops and production processes. The central
office does not receive ownership of the sustainable materials. The central
office is responsible for the management of the group, i.e. the implementation
of the internal management system, the compliance of individual group
members with the ISCC requirements, and for carrying out internal audits of
the group members. The certificate is issued for the central office based on a
successful audit.

A sample of all group members is subject to an audit. At least one farm or Group members
plantation has to be audited in the scope of the certification of a central office.
A list of all farms/plantations participating in group certification must be
available during the audit and must be submitted to ISCC together with the
audit documents. This list must include at least the name and address or
location of the individual group members, as well as the date when the self-
declaration was signed for the first time. The central office is responsible for
the calculation of the greenhouse gas emissions of the group. Each group
member is responsible for issuing Sustainability Declarations for their
respective deliveries of sustainable raw material. A copy of each Sustainability
Declaration has to be provided to the central office. The central office has to
keep a quantity bookkeeping system on the basis of the outgoing
Sustainability Declarations. For further information on the group certification,
see Chapter 8.5.5.
Additional Audit Requirements for Central Offices
For traceability purposes the central office has to provide the following
records:

> List of all the farms or plantations that are part of the group (including
at least the names, addresses and unique number for each group
member)

> Contracts/ agreements with all group members

> Self-declarations/ self-assessments of the group members. At the date
of the audit at least one self-declaration must be in place

> Documentation of internal audits

> Copies of all the Sustainability Declarations issued by group members
for deliveries of sustainable material

> Bookkeeping of outgoing quantities based on the Sustainability

Declarations received from group members

Additional Requirements for Sustainability Declarations for Central

Offices
Sustainability Declarations are issued by each farm or plantation that is a
member of the group. The general requirements (Chapter 8.3.2) and
additional requirements for farms or plantations apply.

© ISCC System GmbH

 42

ISCC PLUS
8.4.3 First Gathering Point

First gathering points are economic operators that buy and receive the Direct sourcing
sustainable crops or agricultural crop residues directly from the farms or from farms or
plantations
plantations. They then further distribute, trade or process this biomass. First
gathering points have a contractual relationship with the supplying farms or
plantations for the delivery of crops or agricultural crop residues and have to
receive a signed self-declaration/self-assessment from each farm or
plantation before the first delivery of the sustainable biomass. They have to
conduct internal audits at their supplying farms or plantations. An important
characteristic of a first gathering point is the task of determining and
documenting the incoming biomass according to its origin, quality, amount and
greenhouse gas emissions for cultivation. For further information on group
certification requirements see Chapter 8.5.

First gathering points are audited regarding the requirements of the Audit
management system, traceability, chain of custody and greenhouse gas requirements
emissions. A sample of all farms or plantations that have signed a self-
declaration is subject to an audit in the scope of the certification of the first
gathering point. At least one farm or plantation has to be audited in the scope
of the certification of a first gathering point. The certificate is issued to the first
gathering point based on a successful audit.

The first gathering point is responsible for ensuring the traceability of Traceability and
sustainable material back to its origin and to comply with the mass balance mass balance
requirements under ISCC. A mass balance must be kept for each location
where sustainable material is stored on behalf of the first gathering point. The
contracts between first gathering points and farms/plantations need to be
taken into account in the framework of the audit to verify the amount of
sustainable biomass provided by farms/plantations (plausibility check).

In case of GHG Add-on, a first gathering point is also responsible for the GHG emissions
correct determination of the greenhouse gas emissions for cultivation for the
incoming biomass and is responsible for verifying whether specific options to
state greenhouse gas emissions (for example, disaggregated default value for
cultivation or NUTS2 values) can be applied.

It is the responsibility of the first gathering point or collecting point to provide Evidence of
evidence to the CB of which sustainable materials are (or will be) received sustainable
material
from farms or from points of origin. Evidence regarding the type of sustainable
material can include self-declarations, delivery documentation, or contracts
with suppliers. The respective materials will be published on the ISCC
certificate.

A first gathering point may use collection facilities (e.g. sites used during Storage facilities
harvesting periods equipped with mobile weighbridges) or external storage
facilities. If the external storage facilities store sustainable biomass entirely on
behalf of a first gathering point they are considered to be dependent
warehouses, i.e. they do not individually buy biomass from farms or

© ISCC System GmbH

 43

ISCC PLUS
plantations and sell it to customers in their own name. Such dependent
storage facilities can be covered by the certificate of the first gathering.

A sample of these dependent storage facilities is subject to an audit in the

scope of the certification of the first gathering point (see Chapter 8.5 for further
information on the calculation of the sample size). A list of all dependent
storage facilities must be available during the audit and must be submitted to
ISCC together with the audit documents. This list must include at least the
name and address of the storage facilities.

A first gathering point may use the service of so-called local agents or country Local agents or
dealer who facilitate the contracts for the delivery of sustainable biomass country dealer
between farms or plantations and first gathering points. In all cases, the first
gathering point has to comply with all of the relevant requirements according
to this standard. If local agents or country dealer act in their own name (i.e. by
buying biomass from farms/plantations, holding the self-declarations and
selling the biomass in their own name) these local agents or country dealer
act as first gathering points and have to become certified individually.

All biomass that is received directly from farms or plantations is covered under Scope specific
the first gathering point scope is all biomass that is received directly from farms transactions
or plantations (with a self-declaration or from individually certified farms or
plantations). If a first gathering point also buys sustainable material from
certified suppliers other than farms or plantations (e.g. other certified first
gathering points, traders, etc.), an additional certification as a trader is
required.

First gathering points may accept crops or agricultural crop residues from the Acceptance of
harvest in the current or the previous year as being sustainable up to three material prior to
months prior to the start of the validity of the certificate. The signed self- certification
declarations from the delivering farms or plantations have to be in place at the
date of receipt of this biomass, and the first gathering point has to fulfil all
chain of custody requirements. All deliveries which a first gathering point
receives from farms or plantations that have signed a self-declaration have to
be booked into the quantity bookkeeping as being sustainable. The first
gathering point can only dispatch and merchandise the biomass as being
sustainable after the start of validity of the certificate.

Additional Audit Requirements for First Gathering Points

In addition to the documentation and information required under Chapter 8.3.1

the first gathering point has to document the following:

> List of all farms or plantations supplying crops or agricultural crop

residues including, at the least the full names and addresses of the
farms or plantations

> Self-declarations/ self-assessments of farms or plantations delivering

crops or agricultural crop residues for the respective certification
period. On the date of the audit at least one self-declaration/ self-
assessment must be in place

© ISCC System GmbH

 44

ISCC PLUS
> Certificate numbers, the name of certification scheme and the number
of the group member in the case of deliveries from individually or
group-certified farms or plantations

> List of all storage facilities acting on behalf of the first gathering point
with names and addresses

> Quantity bookkeeping. If dependent storage facilities are used,

individual quantity bookkeeping is necessary for each storage facility
Additional Requirements for Sustainability Declarations of First
Gathering Points
The Sustainability Declarations for outgoing sustainable material have to Information
contain the information as specified in Chapter 8.3.3. transfer

For each delivery of sustainable material from a farm or plantation which has
provided a self-declaration, the weighbridge protocols of the incoming
sustainable biomass have to be supplemented by the following information:

> Name and address of the farm or plantation

> Name and address of the first gathering point or related warehouse to
which the sustainable biomass is delivered

> Unique batch number

> Amount and type of each crop or agricultural crop residue
> Related contract number
> Means of transportation and transporting distance
The first gathering point has to provide a document to the farm or plantation
delivering sustainable biomass containing the following information:

> Name and address of the first gathering point and, if the material is
delivered to a storage facility related to the first gathering point, the
name and address of the storage facility

> Name and address of the farm/plantation

> Unique batch number
> Type(s) of crop or agricultural crop residue
> Weight of delivered crop(s) or agricultural crop residue(s) in metric
tons

> Date of receipt of sustainable crop(s) or agricultural crop residue(s)

> If GHG Add-on is applied, GHG emissions information (see below)
GHG emissions information for emissions from extraction and
cultivation (eec)

© ISCC System GmbH

 45

ISCC PLUS
1 Statement: “Use of total default value”, OR

2 Statement “Use of disaggregated default value for cultivation (eec)”,

if the requirements of the RED II are fulfilled (i.e. if a default value
for the crop exists

3 Statement of an actual value in kg CO2eq/dry-ton of biomass.

NUTS 2 values also need to be forwarded as a number in kg
CO2eq/dry-ton of biomass
For the two elements stated below an individual calculation is required.
If applicable, the respective values also need to be forwarded
separately on the Sustainability Declaration:

> el: Emissions from carbon stock changes caused by land-use

change (and separate information if the bonus for severely
degraded land eB can be applied) (see ISCC EU System
Document 205 “GHG Emissions”)

> esca: Emissions savings from soil carbon accumulation via

improved agricultural management (and separate information
if the bonus for animal manure used as substrate can be
applied) (see ISCC EU System Document 205 “GHG
Emissions”)

8.4.4 Point of Origin for Waste and Residues

Points of origin for waste or processing residues are operations where the Definition
waste or residue either occurs or is generated. Depending on the upstream
origin and collection of the waste, waste management plants are defined as
point of origin or as collecting point.

Points of origin are the extractor of material for downstream supply chain
elements. Points of origin may aggregate waste, prepare waste for further
processing, mechanically process waste without chemically transforming it
(e.g. shredding, densifying or pelletizing) or provide quality assurance
services (e.g. ensuring that waste conforms to agree upon specifications).
Waste plastic is prepared for introduction to the certified recycling collecting
point at the Point of Origin. In any case, it must be proven at the Point of Origin
that the first material in the supply chain is a waste, meaning that a.o. the
material was not intentionally produced and its further use requires an
additional processing step other than normal industrial practice. Further
precondition for certification is compliance with national regulations for the
respective material handling. The point of origin must hold appropriate
licenses and permits to act as a legal waste management company or is an
entity that generates recovered material as defined in ISO 14021:2021.
Recovered material is defined by this ISO norm as “material that would have
otherwise been disposed of as waste or used for energy recovery but has
instead been collected and recovered as a material input, in lieu of new
primary material, for a recycling or manufacturing process”. This means, the

© ISCC System GmbH

 46

ISCC PLUS
material enters a supply chain again as a feedstock for further production and
hence promoting the circular economy.

Points of origin have three options to participate under this standard:

> Individual certification

> As part of a group organised under a central office
> As supplier to a collecting point
Points of origin delivering sustainable material under ISCC are obliged to Assessment of
enable an assessment and evaluation of all applicable ISCC requirements to waste/residues
ensure that the material generated meets the applicable definitions for wastes
or residues. One requirement for points of origin to comply with, is to
demonstrate that any waste or residue material occurring at their premises is
not generated deliberately.

Non-individually certified points of origin need to fill out the ISCC PLUS self- Self-declarations
declaration to the Collecting Point of the certified material and specify the
material produced according to the ISCC PLUS material list. A copy of the
self-declaration has to be available during the audit. By signing the self-
declaration, a point of origin declares compliance with the ISCC requirements
and allows on-site access for auditors to verify compliance with the ISCC
requirements if required.
Here, it also needs to be indicated if post- or pre-consumer material is
handled:

> For post-consumer waste (definition in Chapter 5.6), municipal

collection of private household / post-consumer plastic waste is not
part of the certified supply chain and therefore a self-declaration does
not need to be issued. In that case, the waste management company
providing the sorted plastic waste to the next entity in the supply chain
is the point of origin.

> For other types of collection of waste material, the entity where
industrial waste / processing residues (pre-consumer material –
definition in Chapter 5.6) occurs / is generated usually is defined as
the point of origin.

If the traceability of waste and residues from the point of origin to the collecting Equivalent
point is ensured by existing systems operated by governmental authorities systems
(delegated or otherwise authorised), e.g. on a local, regional or national level,
ISCC can recognise the equivalence of such systems with the issuing of a
self-declaration. The equivalence of such systems must be assessed and
approved by ISCC. Depending on the type and size of the point of origin the
principles of group auditing (auditing based on a sample) can be applied.
However, individual certification of such points of origin is possible on a
voluntary basis. An up-to-date list of accepted systems is available on the
ISCC website.

© ISCC System GmbH

 47

ISCC PLUS
Any audit of a point of origin includes an assessment of the materials to
Zero GHG
determine if they meet the definition for waste and residues. For points of emissions
origins, no determination of greenhouse gas emissions is required for assumed
voluntary GHG Add-on, i.e. zero GHG emissions are assumed at the point of
origin.
Agricultural and
In the case of residues directly derived from or generated by agriculture (e.g.
forestry residues
straw, husks or shells), aquaculture, fisheries and forestry, the point of origin
is a farm, plantation or forest management unit. In the case of residues from
aquaculture, fisheries and forestry the point of origin is the equivalent to a farm
or plantation for agriculture (see also Chapter 8.4.1). For those points of origin,
a sample has to be audited in the framework of the collecting point or central
office certification regardless the amount of waste/residue generated.

For waste and processing residues, different set-ups can be identified. In Waste and
particular, they can be distinguished with respect to the type of the point of processing
residues
origin, the collection setup of the material and the risk of false declaration of
non-waste material as waste.

ISCC takes into account the different risk levels to ensure the integrity of ISCC, Categories
of claims made under ISCC, and to avoid unnecessary obstacles or of points of origin
administrative burdens related to the certification of waste and residues. In
this way, ISCC facilitates the diversification of sustainable raw materials
according to different categories of points of origin for waste and processing
residues. These categories are considered separately with respect to the
certification process and audit requirements.

In the following, different categories of points of origin, their relationship to the

collecting point, their risk exposure and the particular requirements for the
certification and audit process are specified:

Business and Companies

Business and companies are the most common category of points of origin. Restaurants or
This includes, for example, restaurants or industrial operations using virgin industrial
operations
oils to cook food, operations processing biomass or vegetable oils and other
commercial processors generating waste or residues.

If case several points of origin are organised under a franchise system (e.g. Franchise
fast-food restaurants) two different set-ups are possible regarding the self- system
declaration to be issued and signed. If the point of origin is managed by a
legally independent owner (franchisee), every individual entity (point of origin)
must sign the self-declaration. In case several points of origin are operated
locally by on-site employees but are fully owned and managed by a local or
regional entity (franchisor) and not acting independently, the self-declaration
can be signed by the competent local or regional manager responsible for the
points of origin. In this case it is possible to issue and sign one self-declaration
for all points of origin owned and managed by the franchisor. It must be
ensured that a list is attached to the self-declaration which clearly identifies all
individual points of origin (including their specific addresses).

© ISCC System GmbH

 48

ISCC PLUS
Businesses and companies generating less than 10 metric tons of a specific
Sample audits of
waste or residue per month (or less than 120 metric tons per year based on a points of origin
rolling average) are considered to have a low risk of fraud due to the marginal
amount of material generated. Therefore, it is not usually necessary to
conduct an on-site audit, unless there is indication or evidence of non-
conformity with ISCC requirements. Businesses and companies generating
more than 10 metric tons of a waste or residue material per month (or more
than 120 metric tons per year) are considered to have a higher risk of fraud
due to the higher amount of material generated. Therefore, it is obligatory to
audit such points of origin on a sample basis, if they do not opt for an individual
certification. Points of origin which are not certified individually and producing
amounts above the respective threshold form the basis for the sample
calculation during the certification of the collecting point or central office (see
Chapter 8.5 for details on the calculation of the sample size). Sampling can
only be applied if the contractual basis on which the point of origin is operating
avoids incentives for making false claims about the nature of the raw material,
and if the risk of fraudulent behaviour is low. Points of origin, for which
sampling cannot be applied, must be audited individually on-site. The CB is
obliged to verify compliance with the ISCC requirements, especially if there is
an indication or evidence for non-conformity of points of origin which are not
certified individually. This rule applies irrespective of the size of the point of
origin or the amounts generated.

Community (Municipal) Collection / Landfill Sites

Such sites are usually operated by local (governmental) authorities and Compliance with
provide the service (e.g. to private households) of discard waste or residues local and
national laws
at their premises. The risk of fraud is comparably low because sites like these
are operated by local (governmental) authorities and are obliged to comply
with local and national waste laws. Such sites can be considered to take on
the role of a point of origin. Therefore, they must complete and sign a self-
declaration to the certified collecting point or central office. Due to the fact that
such sites might accumulate high amounts of material, they are subject to on-
site audits based on a sample according to the principles specified under point
“Businesses and Companies”.
Community collection sites must be able to demonstrate to the CB the type of Plausibility of
material and the plausibility of the volumes received. amounts

Public containers

Some EU Member States have implemented systems to facilitate the UCO from
collection of used cooking oil (UCO) by using public containers in which households
private households can discard UCO. This is usually done using small
containers or bottles, which are inserted into the public container. The
container is then collected or emptied by an economic operator which would
be considered a collecting point under ISCC. In order to ensure the plausibility
of the amounts collected from such containers and to reduce the risk of fraud,
the collecting point must meet specific requirements. The collecting point in

© ISCC System GmbH

 49

ISCC PLUS
charge for picking up the container is responsible for implementing an
appropriate level of monitoring and identification of the incoming material. The
collecting point has to indicate employees responsible for internal quality
control and inspection of the material (e.g. truck drivers and/or employees
handling the material). Indicators for internal monitoring of UCO can include
(but are not limited to) for example: colour, smell, consistency or viscosity. The
collecting point must have sufficient documentation in place to ensure that a
CB can assess and verify the plausibility of the amounts collected. The
required information includes:

> Permit or license for collection issued by the competent authority

> Total number of containers including size (volume) of the containers
> Information about where each container is located and the respective
permit/license from the authorities

> Information about the residential area or the neighbourhood of the

container including the population density of the area

> Dates when specific containers have been emptied/collected and

information on how often containers are emptied/collected (e.g. based
on signed receipts from truck drivers)

> Weighbridge reports or collection reports of the incoming material

> Information about the average number of collections per day
> Reports on the amounts and management of solid waste and waste
water (e.g. from cleaning UCO)
Public containers must be audited on-site on a sample basis, irrespective of Sample audits
the amount of material collected from each container. The sample size has to
be based on the total number of different locations (addresses) where public
containers are located. Several public containers located next to each other
at the very same location (address) shall be audited as one sample.

The collecting point is responsible for setting up appropriate measures to Prevent

prevent contamination of the environment (e.g. by spillage or leakage) and to contamination
set up a process on how to handle contaminations. Each container should
show instructions, which at least indicate the type of material to be inserted
into the container and how to act in the event of a spillage or leakage.
Private households

The amounts of waste or residue material (e.g. UCO) generated by individual No self-
private households are marginal. Furthermore, private households usually do declarations
required
not sell waste or residues to a collecting point. Thus, they have no economic
benefit from providing waste or residues to a collecting point and there is no
risk of fraud. It would be disproportionate to require signed documents or on-
site audit of private households. Therefore, private households do not need to
issue self-declarations to a collecting point, and they are not subject to on-site

© ISCC System GmbH

 50

ISCC PLUS
verification. However, the certified collecting point receiving or collecting the
waste and residues generated by private households must be able to
demonstrate to the CB the type of material and the plausibility of the amounts
collected or received (e.g. by showing collection routes, frequency of
collection and historic data of collected amounts).

8.4.5 Central Office for Points of Origin of Waste and Residues

A central office is the representative body of at least one group of points of Head of group
origin. Points of origin within one group must be homogenous e.g. in terms of
amounts and types of waste/residues generated. Group certification of points
of origin is applicable e.g. for rendering plants operated by the same company,
and where each point of origin regularly generates waste and residues above
the threshold of 10 metric tons per month.

Points of origin certified under a central office can sell their products directly
to third parties.
The central office is responsible for the management of the group. A central
office is audited with respect to its management system, traceability and chain
of custody, and GHG emissions. A sample of all points of origin that are
members of the group may be subject to an audit (see Chapter 8.5 for further
information).

8.4.6 Collecting Point for Waste and Residues

Collecting points for waste and residues are economic operators that collect Declaration and
or receive waste and residues material (e.g. used cooking oil, crude glycerine, documentation
of materials
tall oil pitch) directly from the points of origin where the waste and residues
are generated. For agricultural crop residues generated on farms/plantations
the first gathering point is regarded as the collecting point (see above), or the
equivalent for aquaculture, fisheries and forestry residues.
Collecting points either sell, distribute or process the collected waste and Responsibilities
residues. Collecting points are responsible for the correct declaration and
documentation of the types and amounts of collected waste/residues
materials. Due to their role and responsibilities collecting points are the first
elements in waste/residues supply chains which require an individual
certification. Collecting points receive a certificate upon a successful audit.
They will be audited regarding their management system, traceability, chain
of custody and if applicable greenhouse gas requirements. The collecting
point is responsible to ensure the traceability of sustainable material back to
its origin and to comply with the mass balance requirements under ISCC. A
mass balance must be kept for each location where sustainable material is
stored on behalf of the collecting point.

The scope collecting point covers are all waste and residues collected or Scope specific
received directly from points of origin (with a self-declaration or from transactions
individually certified points of origin). If a collecting point also receives
sustainable material from certified suppliers other than points of origin (e.g.

© ISCC System GmbH

 51

ISCC PLUS
other certified collecting points), an additional certification as a trader is
required.

Collecting points collecting waste and residues as sustainable from (not Self-declarations
individually certified) points of origin must receive a signed self-declaration must be
available
from these points of origin. Only when a self-declaration has been signed by
the point of origin can the collected material be considered sustainable (see
Chapter 8.3.5 for different options to implement self-declarations). Material
which has been collected from points of origin which are not certified
individually and have not signed a self-declaration must be considered as non-
sustainable. The self-declaration must be issued to the certified collecting
point and must be available during the audit.

A sample of (not individually certified) points of origin generating on average Audit of sample
more than 10 metric tons per month of a specific waste or residue (or more of points of
origins
than 120 metric tons per year) must be audited in the framework of the audit
of the collecting point. Points of origins that are certified individually or as part
of a group under a central office do not fall into the sample. See Chapter 8.5
for information on how the sample size is calculated and determined.
Collecting points must keep an up-to-date list of all suppliers of sustainable List of suppliers
material. This includes points of origin supplying waste and residues with a
self-declaration as well as individually certified suppliers.

Prior to the audit, a collecting point shall submit the list of all points of origin Verification of
that have signed the self-declaration and the indicative amount of material existence of
points of origin
each point of origin can supply to the collecting point. Based on this list, the
auditor19 shall verify the volumes supplied and existence of a sample of the
points of origins on the list. The auditor has to verify the existence of at least
the square root of all points of origins that have signed the self-declaration
within 12 months prior to the audit (rounded up to the next full number).
Example: 500 points of origin have signed the self-declaration: √500 = 22.36.
This means the auditor shall verify the existence of 23 points of origin. This
verification can be done remotely e.g. through internet research, with a
telephone call, or through other substantiated evidence. If the existence of a
point of origin cannot be verified remotely, on-site verification is mandatory
before the point of origin is allowed to supply ISCC supply chains.

Economic operators that only collect waste and residues on behalf of a Dependent
collecting point are regarded as dependent collecting points and do not need collecting points
to be certified individually. However, they have to be audited on a sample
basis in the scope of the audit of the collecting point. The same applies for
external storage facilities used collecting point. A sample of those storage
facilities has to be audited in the scope of the certification of the collecting
point. (see Chapter 8.5) The collecting point has to keep a list of all dependent
collecting points and/or external storage facilities used. It is the responsibility
of the collecting point to ensure that the certification body and ISCC are able

19 The verification does not necessarily have to be carried out by the lead auditor. This task can also be
carried out by competent staff in the office of the certification body.

© ISCC System GmbH

 52

ISCC PLUS
to assess and evaluate compliance with the relevant requirements at relevant
service providers. This can e.g. be included in the respective contractual
agreements between the collecting point and the service provider.
All deliveries, which a collecting point receives from points of origin that have Acceptance of
signed a self-declaration, have to be recorded in the quantity bookkeeping as material prior to
certification
being sustainable. Collecting points may collect waste and residues from
points of origin as sustainable up to three months prior to the start of the
validity of the certificate. The signed self-declarations from the points of origin
have to be in place at the date of receipt of the material, and the collecting
point has to fulfil all chain of custody requirements. The collecting point can
only dispatch and merchandise the biomass as being sustainable following
the start of validity of the certificate.

Summary Audit Requirements for Collecting Points

> List of all points of origin supplying waste/residues including, at the

least the full names and addresses and indicative amounts of
waste/residues supplied by each point of origin

> Self-declarations signed by points of origins supplying waste/residues

> Certificate numbers, the name of the certification scheme and the
number of the group member in the case of deliveries from individually
or group-certified points of origins and other certified suppliers

> List of all external storage facilities and dependent collecting points
used by the collecting point with names and addresses

> Quantity bookkeeping. If external storage facilities are used, individual

quantity bookkeeping is necessary for each storage facility
Requirements for Sustainability Declarations of collecting points
The information requirements as stated in Chapter 8.3.3 apply to
Sustainability Declarations issued by collecting points.

8.4.7 Traders and Storage Facilities

Traders and storage facilities are economic operators that trade (i.e. buy and Trading and
sell) or store sustainable materials (i.e. raw materials, intermediate products storing
or final products). Storage facilities include warehouses, silos, tanks etc. A
storage facility stores and/or transfers the sustainable material on behalf of
the owner of the sustainable material. If a storage facility is also trading
sustainable material it has to be additionally certified as trader.

All traders and storage facilities trading and/or storing sustainable materials Certification
must be covered by certification. options

Storage facilities have three options to be covered under ISCC certification:

> Individual certification as ‘warehouse’ (i.e. storage facility)

© ISCC System GmbH

 53

ISCC PLUS
> Certification as part of a ‘logistics centre’ (i.e. group certification of
storage facilities)

> Covered as dependent storage facility in the framework of the

certification of a third party (e.g. first gathering point, collecting point,
processing unit, trader with storage)
In order to decide which certification option is suitable for a storage facility it Storage
should be considered if the storage facility will be available to third parties. available to third
parties
When certified individually or as part of logistics centre a storage facility can
store sustainable material from third parties without being considered for the
sample audits in the framework of the certification of the third party (i.e.
reduced audit effort for the storage location).

Individual certification as warehouse covers all on-site storage facilities of the Individual
certified economic operator. warehouse

Certification as a logistics centre is an option for economic operators that Logistic Centre
operate and manage a group of storage facilities under a single legal entity at
different geographical sites but with a corporate management system. The
certificate of a logistic centre contains an annex that lists all storage facilities
(with address) covered under the certificate.
Certification as a dependent storage facility is an option if certified third parties Dependent
(e.g. first gathering points, collecting points, traders or final product storage facility
refinement) use (own or rented) storage facilities but do not offer storage to
third parties. If all relevant documentation can be fully verified remotely by the
auditor and the CB decides that no additional on-site visit is necessary to
confirm compliance with ISCC requirements the sample audit(s) for
warehouses can be conducted remotely. The precondition is a regular risk
setup20 with low complexity of market activities, clear documentation reflecting
all traceability requirements (e.g. centralized barcode database) and a
structured management system containing relevant critical control points and
responsibilities.
Warehouses and logistic centres receive a certificate upon a successful audit. Audit scope
They are audited regarding their management system. Furthermore, the
auditor must verify the physical inventory, information on incoming and
outgoing materials and the related documentation (e.g. weighbridge tickets),
the technical equipment (e.g. weighbridge, calibrations, etc.), and the data
transfer between the operator of the storage facility and the owner of the
sustainable material. If the warehouse or logistic centre is owner of
sustainable material it also has to be certified as trader (see below for further
information).

For the certification of a logistic centre a sample of all storage facilities used Sample audits
for sustainable material is audited (see Chapter 8.5 for rules to calculate the
sample). The same applies to the certification of storage facilities in the
framework of the certification of a third party (e.g. first gathering point,

20 This should refer to the lowest risk according to ISCC EU 204 “Risk Management”

© ISCC System GmbH

 54

ISCC PLUS
collecting point, trader, processing unit). Here, a sample of all storage
locations that are not individually certified as warehouse or as part of a logistic
centre are subject to an audit. Logistic centres have to keep an up-to-date list
of all storage facilities used for sustainable material (including trade name and
complete address). Third parties using storage facilities have to keep a list of
all storage facilities used for sustainable material (including trade name,
address and valid certificate number if storage is covered by individual or
logistic centre certification). In both cases the list has to be kept up-to-date
and the certification body has to be informed about any changes to the list.
During the period of validity of a certificate, additional storage facilities can be
added. They will be included in the determination of the sample audits of
storage facilities for the recertification audit.
Operators of storage facilities that are covered by an ISCC certificate must Ensuring access
enable the auditor to verify compliance with the ISCC requirements and must
grant access to all relevant premises.

The requirements regarding traceability and chain of custody apply to every Site-specific
individual storage site. This means that site-specific mass balances have to mass balances
be kept. The certified owner of the sustainable material, i.e. the certified party
using a storage facility (own or rented) is responsible for keeping the site-
specific mass balances. During the audit the auditor has to check the mass
balance of each individual storage location. It is not sufficient to only check a
sample of the site-specific mass balances.
The certified owner of the sustainable material is responsible for receiving and Reference to
issuing the Sustainability Declarations of the sustainable material that is storage site on
Sustainability
physically received or dispatched respectively at every individual storage Declaration
location. The information on the place of receipt or place of dispatch as
required on each Sustainability Declaration must clearly indicate the site of
the storage location (address) where the sustainable material was physically
received or dispatched respectively.
Traders buy and sell sustainable materials. All traders of sustainable material Trader with
have to be covered under ISCC certification. Traders that use their own or storage vs.
paper trader
rented storage facilities are certified under the scope ‘trader with storage’. So-
called paper traders, i.e. traders without physical contact to the sustainable
material (i.e. no use of own or rented storage facilities) have to be certified
under the scope ‘trader’.

Any trade of sustainable material under ISCC always refers to a specific batch Link to physical
of sustainable material and a Sustainability Declaration is issued for each material required
delivery of sustainable material which is linked to a specific amount of physical
sustainable material (see Chapter 8.3.1). The issuance and trading of
Sustainability Declarations without the link to an equivalent amount of physical
sustainable material is considered as book-and-claim and thus not allowed
under ISCC.

A certified trader must be able to prove at which (certified) site the sustainable Verification of
material is physically available. In the framework of an audit, the auditor must physical location
of material
© ISCC System GmbH
 55

ISCC PLUS
be able to verify the physical location of the material as well as where it will be
(potentially) supplied to. On the Sustainability Declaration the information on
the place of receipt or place of dispatch must clearly indicate the site of the
storage location (i.e. the address) where the sustainable materials was
physically received or dispatched respectively. All relevant documents
regarding the transport of the material have to be available and presented to
the auditor during the audit that are required to ensure the traceability of the
material. Paper trader may forward the Sustainability Declaration as received
from their supplier of the sustainable material.

Traders and traders with storage receive a certificate upon a successful audit.
They are audited regarding their management system, traceability and chain
of custody requirements. If a trader uses storage facilities that are individually
certified or certified as part of a logistic centre, these storage facilities do not
have to be included in the sample. Traders with storage have to keep site-
specific mass balances for every individual storage location used. Although
(paper) traders have no physical contact to the sustainable material they must
provide evidence about the transactions of the sustainable material (e.g.
contracts, Sustainability Declarations).
ISCC certificates are site specific which means that only the address of the Place of audit
audited operational unit can be stated on the certificate. For traders and different from
legal address
traders with storage an exception is possible in the case that the legal address
differs from the place where daily operations are conducted. In this case the
audit is conducted at the place where actual operations are taking place. This
address has to be stated in the audit procedure. On the certificate both the
legal address of the trader and the place of the audit are stated.
Additional Audit Requirements
In addition to the general requirements stated in Chapter 8.3.3 the following
information has to be provided:

> List of all the storage facilities where sustainable material is stored,
including names and addresses

> If the storage facilities used are certified individually or as part of a

logistics centre, the name of the certification system and the respective
certificate numbers have to be included

> Separate mass balances for every single storage facility, based on the
documentation of the stock inventory as provided by the respective
storage facility

> Plant layout plan for the storage facility

> Contracts between the storage facility and clients
> Relevant technical equipment and infrastructure to determine the flow
of incoming and outgoing material

> Documentation of the data flows between the storage facility and client

© ISCC System GmbH

 56

ISCC PLUS
> Documentation of the periodical inventory of the incoming and
outgoing material per contract/ client, including weighbridge protocols

> Contractual agreement providing access for certification bodies if

required
Additional Requirements for Sustainability Declarations

In the case of biomethane that is traded via the gas grid, the producer feeding Specific
requirements for
the biomethane into the grid issues a Sustainability Declaration to the
the trade of
recipient. If the recipient is a (paper) trader, i.e. not receiving the material biomethane
physically, the trader can sell the respective batch of ISCC certified material
and forward the respective Sustainability Declaration to the recipient, e.g. to
the economic operator taking the biomethane (physically) out of the grid. The
grid in this case is considered as transport and the transport of biomethane
(e.g. via shippers) must be documented. It is not permitted for a (paper) trader
to buy or sell a Sustainability Declaration for biomethane without the link to
the respective amount of physical sustainable material. 21

A trader of sustainable biomethane must sign a declaration to confirm that no Statement: No

multiple claiming of sustainability attributes that are assigned to specific multiple claiming
batches of biomethane is taking place (see Chapter 8.4.8 for further
information).
8.4.8 Processing Units

Processing units are facilities that convert input materials by changing their Changing
physical and/or chemical properties. Processing units can be oil mills, sugar physical or
chemical
mills, refineries, biodiesel and ethanol plants, biogas and biomethane plants, properties
liquefaction (LNG) plants, HVO plants and others. Chemical supply chains
consist of different entities changing the properties of relevant materials/
products. Different types of feedstocks and products allow for diverse possible
setups. For ISCC certificates the following types of processing units can be
applied:

21 Guarantees of origin that may be used by national platforms for the trade of biomethane or documents
issued according to Art. 19 of the RED II must not be considered for trading and forwarding of sustainability
characteristics in the framework of the certification of voluntary schemes to verify compliance with the
sustainability and greenhouse gas emissions savings criteria of the RED II. According to Art. 2(12) of the
RED II “’guarantee of origin’ means an electronic document which has the sole function of providing
evidence to a final customer that a given share or quantity of energy was produced from renewable sources”

© ISCC System GmbH

 Overview on typical processing units in the chemical industry 57
supply chains

ISCC PLUS
Cracker (Plastic) Waste processor Speciality chemical plant Compounding plant
§ Breaking long-chain § Processing of (plastic) waste § e.g. phenol plant, PVC site, § Mixing of different polymers
hydrocarbons into shorter/ into (other than pyrolysis polymer coating plant, thermal (plastics), masterbatches and
simpler molecules oil) products insulating plant (expanded fillers without chemical
polystyrene) reaction
§ Different methodologies § Output: e.g. circular /bio
possible (thermal/steam) cellulose esthers § Output: e.g. bio-circular § Output: e.g. circular/ bio.
butyraldehyde, plastic compounds where the
§ Output: e.g. Ethylen, main polymer is specified in
Propylene propionaldehyde
brackets on the certificate

HVO plant Pyrolysis plant Polymerization plant Converter Refinery

§ Processing of § Processing solid § Processing unit reacting § Bringing polymers into § Processing of bio-
vegetable oils feedstock into liquids monomer molecules bioplastics/ plastic based liquid
§ Bio-based process § Output: e.g. circular/ into polymers (polymer products feedstocks (refining)
bio. pyrolysis oil chain) § Output: e.g. bioplastics, § Output: e.g. refined oils,
§ Crops, waste and
residue-based liquid § Output: e.g. milk boxes, films waste/ processing
feedstocks Polypropylene (PP), residues (e.g. PFAD)
Polyethylene (PE)
§ Output: HVO

Figure 3: Overview on typical processing units in chemical supply chains

© ISCC System GmbH: For personal use only. Reproduction and distribution is prohibited. 3

For specialty chemical plants it is possible to add a more specific definition on

the certificate. At the downstream end of the supply chain the last unit to be
certified under the scope of a processing unit is the converter that significantly
changes the physical properties of their input by putting polymer granulates
into different forms (film, bottles, tubs, etc.).

If a material is treated with mechanical recycling, processing units shall have Mechanical
the scope “Mechanical Recycling Plant”. recycling

All processing units must be certified individually. Group certification or

Individual
sampling is not allowed for processing units. The audit covers the relevant certification
requirements of their management system, traceability, chain of custody and required
greenhouse gas emissions.
Collection points or storage facilities conducting a mechanical filtration or
sedimentation (e.g. of used cooking oil to remove contaminants such as
bones, cutlery, etc. or to reduce the water content of the used cooking oil) are
not regarded as processing units. This applies, if both the raw material and
the material after the mechanical treatment can be classified and declared
with identical waste codes. Facilities that only blend biofuels, bioliquids or
gaseous biofuels, such as ETBE or MTBE plants, are not regarded as
processing units either. They are certified according to the audit requirements
for storage facilities (see 3.4.7) with the exception that sampling and group
certification is not possible for blending facilities.

During the audit of a processing unit, the auditor must especially verify the Audit
traceability and plausibility of the incoming and outgoing amounts of requirements
sustainable material, as well as the conversion procedure applied within the
processing unit. A part of the assessment of the conversion process is the
determination of conversion factors, including a description of the relation
between sustainable input and sustainable output. It is the responsibility of the
processing unit to provide evidence to the auditor of which types of
sustainable material are (or will be) received and processed at the respective
unit. Evidence can include production reports from the previous year, delivery
documentation, or contracts with suppliers. The respective materials handled
as sustainable by the processing unit will be published on the ISCC certificate.

© ISCC System GmbH

 58

ISCC PLUS
All materials that is processed on-site and sold/dispatched to recipients is
Scope specific
covered under the scope processing unit. If a processing unit receives or buys transactions
sustainable material that is sold or dispatched without being processed at the
processing unit, an additional certification as a trader is required.
Processing units can operate under a so-called tolling agreement, i.e. an
Tolling
agreement or contract between the processing unit and the owner of the agreement
material to process the material. A fee (“toll”) is agreed between both parties
for the processing. In such cases the processing unit has two options for
certification. The first option is the certification of the processing unit under its
own name, i.e. the processing unit is the certificate holder. The second option
is the certification of the processing unit under the name of the feedstock
owner. In this case the feedstock owner is the certificate holder. The certificate
has to include the legal name of the feedstock owner, the address of the
processing unit and the information that the processing unit is used by the
certificate holder under a tolling agreement. Under this option, the processing
unit is not permitted to handle sustainable material under its own name as it
is not the holder of the certificate.

Under both options, the respective certificate holder is responsible for the Responsibilities
fulfilment of all relevant ISCC requirements, including if applicable GHG and audit
requirements
determination, mass balances, Sustainability Declarations and the reporting
of sustainable volumes to ISCC. Under option 1 the processing unit is
responsible for determining if applicable the GHG emissions, keeping the
mass balance and issuing the Sustainability Declarations to the recipient.
Under option 2 the feedstock owner is responsible for determining if applicable
the GHG emissions, keeping the mass balance and issuing the Sustainability
Declaration to the recipient. The Sustainability Declaration must indicate that
the place of dispatch of the sustainable material is the site of the processing
unit. For both options, the certificates are issued based on a successful audit
of the processing unit. Under the second option some aspects of the audit
(e.g. mass balance, Sustainability Declarations) can be audited where those
operations are conducted (e.g. at the site of the feedstock owner).
Audit requirements for Processing Units

The requirements as stated in Chapter 8.3.1 have to be fulfilled.

Additional Requirements for Sustainability Declarations for Processing

Units

Sustainability Declarations for outgoing materials have to comply with the Specific
requirements as stated in Chapter 8.3.3. If the processing unit produces final requirements for
final products
biofuels, bioliquids or biomass fuels the following information has to be added
to the Sustainability Declaration:

> In case of biofuel, bioliquid or biomass production, GHG emissions of

the biofuel, bioliquid or biomass fuel in g CO2eq/MJ

© ISCC System GmbH

 59

ISCC PLUS
> eu: Emissions from the fuel in use: emissions of non-CO2 greenhouse
gases (CH4 and N2O) need to be included for bioliquids and biomass
fuels,

> el: Emissions from carbon stock changes caused by land-use change:
if the bonus for severely degraded land was applied (eB= 29 g
CO2eq/MJ) (see ISCC EU System Document 205 “GHG Emissions”)

> esca: Emissions savings from soil carbon accumulation via improved
agricultural management: if the bonus for animal manure used as
substrate is applied (see ISCC EU System Document 205 “GHG
Emissions”)

During the certification of a biogas plant, the weight, origin (address of the Specific
farm, point of origin), dry substance content and if applicable, value of GHG requirements for
biogas plants
emissions stated by the production site must be documented for the incoming
biomass (substrates). If the biogas plant also acts as a first gathering point or
collecting point, the self-declarations/self-assessments issued by
farms/plantations or points of origin and the delivery contracts for biomass
(substrates) must be kept as proof of the biomass.
The substrate quantities introduced into the biogas plant and/or the fermenter Documentation
must be documented using an operations journal and/or work diary. The of substrates
information on the origin of the substrate, the dry substance content as well
as - if applicable - the assigned GHG value must also be documented in this
operations journal. Recording must be carried out as exactly as possible. It
must be verified at least once per month that the substrate quantities supplied
correspond to those used in the fermenter of the biogas plant. Silage losses
occurring during the storage of the substrate must be documented and
explained.

Moreover, the yield of the entire plant must be documented in the operations Documentation
diary. The yield must be measured at the biogas plant using standardised of biogas yields
equipment.
Biomethane plants receive biogas and process the biogas into biomethane. Specific
Biomethane plants must measure their energy consumption and - in case of requirements for
biomethane
GHG Add-on - take into account the methane slip for the GHG calculation. To plants
do so, it is sufficient to measure the actual methane slip, provide the
manufacturer warranty or refer to scientifically accepted standard values.
Plants that employ a procedure using pressure must retreat their exhaust air
thermally.
If the biomethane plant is at the same location as the biogas plant or landfill Documentation
operation, the yield of the entire plant must be documented in an operations of biomethane
yields
journal. The yield must be measured using standardised equipment or
measured continuously by the biomethane plant. The quantity of biomethane
gas produced and the substrate quantity used must be compared at least
every three months. The energy content of the biomethane produced must be
calculated based on the non-condensing heating value.

© ISCC System GmbH

 60

ISCC PLUS
As the final processing unit, the biomethane plant must issue a Sustainability
Reporting to
Declaration to authorities for the biomethane fed into the natural gas grid. In authorities
the field of biomethane production, the “immediate” transmission of the
Sustainability Declaration to the competent authority is not always possible,
since the settlement between the commercial partners is carried out using the
energy content of the biomethane (in kWh) and not in m3 or kg. The energy
content cannot be transmitted “immediately” since it is determined analytically
and is generally only available a few weeks after the end of the month. Thus,
the Sustainability Declarations should be issued at this point in time. The
amounts declared on the Sustainability Declarations must match the amounts
fed into and taken out of the gas grid (as verified by the competent authorities).

All elements of the supply chain that produce, trade, consume or further Statement: No
process (e.g. liquifies) biomethane must sign a declaration to confirm that no multiple claiming
multiple claiming of sustainability attributes that are assigned to specific
batches of biomethane is taking place. Sustainability attributes refer to any
sustainability characteristic22 of a given batch of biomethane and any
statements such as “sustainable”, “certified”, “biobased”, “renewable” or
“emission saving” that are related to that batch. To avoid any multiple claiming
(also referred to as multiple accounting, see Chapter 9.2), the sustainability
attributes cannot be separated from the batch of biomethane and cannot be
transferred, sold or otherwise used (e.g. in the framework of a national biogas
register) to satisfy further obligations or commitments or to benefit from more
than one renewable incentive scheme. A template of this statement is
available on the ISCC website and during the audit the auditor has to verify if
a signed statement is in place.

Regarding the transport of the biomethane via the transmission and Transport in the
distribution infrastructure (i.e. gas grid), the following requirements must be gas grid
taken into account for the certification of biomethane plants.

Renewable gases can be mixed in the transmission and distribution Requirements

for gas grids
infrastructure (gas grid), provided that the infrastructure is interconnected.
This means the natural gas grid can be used for the transport of biomethane.
Transport is not subject to certification under ISCC, as the grid is considered
a transport entity. However, it must be possible to determine and verify the
quantity and quality of the biomethane fed into and taken out of the grid. For
that purpose, the economic operator feeding the biomethane into the grid and
the economic operator taking the biomethane out of the grid must be
physically interconnected via the grid. Both economic operators must be
certified. If within a country the competent authority organizes the national or
regional physical transport of biogas/biomethane or, in cases where this is not
possible due to missing infrastructure, operates an accounting system for
biogas/ biomethane for gas grids that are not physically interconnected, the
relevant gas grids can be considered as equivalent to one transport entity.
This means the economic operator feeding biomethane into one
regional/national grid and the economic operator taking out biomethane from

22 See Chapter 9.2

© ISCC System GmbH

 61

ISCC PLUS
another regional/national grid can be considered as physically interconnected
via the grid.

The quantity of biomethane fed into and taken out of the grid must be recorded Biomethane
and documented by the economic operator that inject and withdraw the injection and
extraction
biomethane respectively. They have to state the properties of the biomethane
(units: m3 or kWh). At the end of the respective mass balancing period, the
quantity of biomethane taken out of the natural gas grid shall not exceed the
quantity of biomethane fed into the grid. The quantities which are fed into and
taken out of the gas grid must be monitored and verified by the competent
national or public authorities (e.g. main customs offices). Documents issued
by the respective authority providing evidence that the quantities have been
monitored and verified must be made available to the auditor. The mass
balancing period shall not exceed three months.

Chemically, biomethane and Bio-LNG (Liquified Natural Gas) are the same Bio-LNG plant
molecule. However, biomethane is in a gaseous state of matter whereas bio-
LNG is in a liquid state. The conversion of biomethane to Bio-LNG is done at
a liquefaction plant (often referred to as LNG plant). The liquefaction plant has
to be certified as processing unit and the respective GHG emissions of the
liquefaction have to be taken into account. In the mass balance, biomethane
and Bio-LNG also have to be kept separately.

A Bio-LNG terminal receives Bio-LNG via ship. The terminal fulfills the Bio-LNG
technical requirements for discharging the liquified gas from the ship and terminal
storing it in on-site tanks. In addition, the LNG terminal is connected to the gas
grid and fulfills the technical requirements for injecting and extracting
biomethane from the grid and for storing the gas in on-site tanks. The terminal
also fulfills the technical requirements for transferring the material from a liquid
into a gaseous state and for injecting the gas on-site as biomethane into the
natural gas grid.

Different types of companies after the converter exist that receive an ISCC Final Product
Refinement
certified material to manufacture a final product. Final product refinement
(FPR) activities shall not substantially modify the certified material or product.

FPR Activities:
> Blowing or forming from a preform (if the process does not use a
preform, the scope processing unit is necessary)
> Cutting
> Labelling
> Assembling
> Printing
> Sealing
> Filling

Audit requirements for final product refinement relate to conversion factors,

mass balance calculations and traceability aspects.

© ISCC System GmbH

 62

ISCC PLUS
8.4.9 Transport

Transport includes all modes of transportation such as road, rail, air, river or Requirements
sea transport. The natural gas and electric power grids are also considered for transport
transport entities and can be used for the transportation of biomethane and
renewable energy respectively. Transport is not subject to certification
according to this standard. All relevant information regarding the transport of
sustainable material (e.g. delivery documents, means and distance of
transport, voluntary information of greenhouse gas emissions) are covered by
the requirements for audits and Sustainability Declarations for the elements
of the supply chain that arrange transportation of the sustainable material (see
Chapters 8.4.1 – 8.4.8).

In the case of transportation via ship the delivering companies or operational Documentation
units have to provide, in addition to a “Bill of Lading”, a document issued by
an independent inspector which confirms the quantity of sustainable product
transferred from the supplier as well as the details of the ship and ship
compartment or hold the material was loaded. Similarly, the dispatch of the
sustainable product has to be documented. It must be assured that transport
documents can be related to the identity number of the purchasing contract
for the sustainable product.
8.4.10 Brand Owners

Brand owners that receive a finished good and would like to make an ISCC Brand owner
claim (on-product/off-product) must either be covered by certification or certification
participate in the ISCC licensing scheme. Please find all relevant information
on the ISCC website.

8.5 Requirements for Group Certification

“Group certification is a practice of organising individual producers into Certification
structured groups and shifting responsibility in part from an external audit to of groups
internal inspections”.23 The procedure for group certification under ISCC is
based on best practices for the certification of groups, e.g. principles laid down
by the ISEAL Alliance.

Group certification is based on the concept that a significant proportion of the Internal and
inspections required is carried out by internal auditors. Independent external external auditors
auditors assess and evaluate the effectiveness of the internal audit system,
conduct audits of a sample of the group members (sampling) and certify the
entire group. An individual audit of each single producer of raw material would
often impose disproportionate financial costs and effort on the entity and the
general certification process. By joining a group, biomass producers can
reduce the effort and costs of certification considerably. This approach is
particularly important for the certification of smallholder farmers, producer
organisations and cooperatives. Within ISCC, group certification can be
applied to homogeneous groups of producers of raw material and feedstock,

23 ISEAL Alliance, 2008: Common Requirements for the Certification of Producer Groups P035 Version 1

© ISCC System GmbH

 63

ISCC PLUS
i.e. farms/plantations, points of origin for waste and processing residues, and
storage or logistic facilities.

8.5.1 General Requirements

The certification as a group is only possible for homogenous entities, i.e. if the Homogenous
following criteria are met: groups

> The members are located in geographic proximity (e.g. in the same
administrative region

> The climatic conditions for agricultural production are similar

> Similar production systems are applied

> The risk assessment has shown a similar risk exposure for the group
members.
The number of group members can be limited by the Certification Body (CB),
depending on the audit results and the performance of the group.
Group members which do not fulfil these conditions (e.g. due to considerably Covering
different production systems in size, nature or geography) will be treated as different groups
autonomous entities and cannot be part of the group certification. It is possible
to cover different groups under one head office if the group members within
each group are homogenous as described above. Furthermore, for each
group the sampling approach as described below has to be applied
separately. ISCC may specify materials and/or elements of the supply chain
(e.g. points of origins) for which sampling cannot be applied.

Group certification for farms and plantations, to demonstrate compliance with Farms and
the land-related sustainability criteria specified in ISCC EU System plantations
Documents 202-1 and 202-2, is only acceptable when the areas concerned
are near each other (e.g. within the same administrative region) and have
similar characteristics. These criteria are usually also met by the agricultural
producers supplying a first gathering point. Therefore, based on an
assessment of the criteria indicated above, the farms and plantations
supplying a first gathering point can usually be considered as one group.
Group certification of points of origin under a central office is only allowed if Points of origin
the individual points of origin belong to a homogeneous group, share a
harmonised management system, have similar processes and generate
similar types of material (e.g. used cooking oil or animal fat). These criteria
are usually met by points of origin supplying a collecting point. Therefore,
based on an assessment of the criteria indicated above, the points of origin
supplying a collecting point can usually be considered as one group.
Group certification of a group of storage facilities belonging to a logistic Logistic network
network is only allowed if the individual storage facilities belong to the same
legal entity, share a harmonised management system and have similar
processes. The principles of sampling can also be applied to cases, in which
a certified economic operator rents external storage facilities from third parties

© ISCC System GmbH

 64

ISCC PLUS
(warehouses, tanks, etc.). The rationale for applying the principles of sampling
is that the storage facilities in such cases do not become the legal owner of
the sustainable material. This means that they have no contractual
agreements with the supplier or the recipient of the sustainable material, and
only act on behalf of their client. Therefore, it is the responsibility of the
certified economic operator renting the storage facility to ensure that all
relevant ISCC requirements are complied with.

8.5.2 Management Requirements

A group is represented by a head office responsible for the management of Role of group
the group, i.e. central office, first gathering point, collecting point or logistic manager
centre. The head office as group manager is responsible for the
implementation of the internal management system and for the individual
group members’ compliance with the ISCC requirements. The responsibilities
of the head office include:

> To set up a procedure to take in and register new group members

> To inform group members about their responsibilities and about the
relevant ISCC requirements applicable to the group

> To make sure that all group members have an adequate

understanding of the requirements and processes

> To run an up-to-date register of members

> To plan and organise internal audits
> To issue annual reviews
> To inform the members about relevant changes or adjustments to
requirements

> To compile the necessary documentation

> To exclude members in the case of non-compliance
> To initiate preventive and corrective measures in member operations.
The rights and duties of the group members shall be documented and defined Documentation
in a regulating contract or agreement between the group members and the
head office of the group.

The following responsibilities apply for group members: Responsibilities

of group
> Commitment to the group’s head office to meet the standard members
requirements and to report intentional or unintentional non-
conformities

> Conducting a self-assessment and signing of a self-declaration

© ISCC System GmbH

 65

ISCC PLUS
> Providing necessary information to internal and external auditors,
especially regarding the (major) production activities, sales and
deliveries of sustainable material relevant to ISCC

> Granting access to the group members’ premises to conduct internal

and external audits

> Commitment to the implementation of amendments and corrective

actions.
8.5.3 Documentations and Records

The processes required by the ISCC standard must be documented by the Documentation
of processes and
head office and records kept for at least five years. The following information
responsibilities
especially must be documented:

> List of all group members including name and address/location, the
size of the production area, volume of production

> Register of fields belonging to farms/plantations, maps of production

area

> Process instructions

> Contracts and/or agreements between the group’s head office and
group members

> Records of (major) production activities and sales, deliveries and

transportation of sustainable material relevant to ISCC

> Audit results of internal and external audits including non-

conformities and corrective measures

> Review of the audit results by the group’s head office.

An appropriate instrument for the documentation of processes and contents Management
is a (quality) management handbook. The group should have a uniform and mapping
methods
method for mapping. Maps may be replaced by GPS-based information to
allow for a more detailed overview and to improve the risk assessment, e.g.
by using satellite data, databases or appropriate remote sensing tools.
8.5.4 Internal Audit System and Review

The group manager must introduce an internal audit system which monitors Internal audit of
the performance of the group management and monitors compliance with the group members
ISCC standard. The internal audits should ensure individual group members’
compliance with the certification criteria of the ISCC system and are an
important part of the risk management of the group manager. The internal
audit should cover the ISCC requirements that are relevant for the group as a
whole and for the scope of the individual group member in particular. A plan
must be developed containing at least the following information:

> Internal auditor(s) in charge

© ISCC System GmbH

 66

ISCC PLUS
> Participants
> Time frame
> Audit emphasis
> Procedure
All group members must be audited in an internal audit at least once a year. Annual internal
Prior to a first certification, all individual group members and the group as a audit
whole must be subject to an internal audit to verify compliance with ISCC
requirements and the functionality of the internal audit system. Before a new
member can be registered, they must first be internally audited.

The internal auditors in charge must be qualified to professionally judge the Qualification of
relevant questions. Before they start auditing, they must be trained regarding internal auditors
the requirements of the ISCC system e.g. by participating in ISCC Basic
Training & ISCC PLUS Training. Training of internal auditors should continue
on a regular basis, with a particular focus on relevant risk factors identified for
the group.
The internal auditor must document the activities and the results of the internal Documentation
audits. The documentation must be made accessible to the external auditor. of internal audits
The results of the internal audits must include major non-conformities,
corrective measures and an action plan for improvement.
The group manager must carry out an annual review. As a minimum Review
requirement, this review must contain the evaluation of the audit results and
of possible inputs from a third party.
8.5.5 External Audit

External audits of the group must take place on an annual basis (i.e. at least Annual external
every 12 months). The group’s head office is always subject to an audit. The audit
sample size of group members to be audited must be calculated by the
external auditor and is driven by the risk factor determined by the external
auditor during the risk assessment. The external auditor is responsible for
selecting and auditing individual group members within the scope of the
sample.

Calculating the Sample Size:

The correct definition of the sample size (s) to be audited for compliance is Calculation
the basis for a consistent and reliable group certification process. In order to formula
determine the sample size, the total number of individual group members (n)
relevant for sampling and the risk factor (r) determined during the risk
assessment must be taken into account. The sample size is determined by
the following formula:

s = r x √n

s: sample size
r: risk factor

© ISCC System GmbH

 67

ISCC PLUS
n: total number of group members.

The minimum sample size is the square root of the total number of group Minimum sample
members (√n) or 10% of the total number of group members (n) whichever size
number is higher

The minimum sample size must be multiplied by the risk factor (r) determined
by the auditor during the risk assessment:
Regular risk: r = 1

Medium risk: r = 1.5

High risk: r = 2

The auditor is entitled to increase the sample size according to the individual
situation and based on the auditor’s risk assessment in order to reach the
necessary level of confidence to make a reliable statement regarding the
conformity of the group. The lowest possible sample size is one.
If the result of calculating the sample size (s) is a decimal number, the sample Rounding up
size (s) is to be rounded up to the next whole number (integer). The decisive
factor for rounding up is the first position after the decimal point. This means,
calculated sample sizes (s) up to 1.04 will result in a sample size of 1. A
calculated sample size of 1.05 or higher would lead to a sample size of 2 (1.05
must be rounded up to 1.1 which must be rounded up to 2).
Biomass producers, points of origin or storage facilities that are certified Certified entities
individually or as part of a certified group under a (different) central office, or
logistic centre, may not be considered for the total number of individual group
members (n).

This formula ensures a control density of the group, following in principle the
control requirements set by the European Commission in the framework of the
EU Cross Compliance system24.

For farms and plantations which are participating in group certification the total Self-assessment
number of group members (n) is composed of all farms and plantations which and self-
declaration
have conducted the self-assessment and signed the self-declaration at any
time during the 12-month period prior to the date of the certification audit. This
is irrespective of the amount (if any) of material supplied as sustainable by the
farm/plantation in the previous certification period.
Points of origin (producers of waste or processing residues) participating in Points of origin
group certification must sign the respective self-declaration for compliance
with the ISCC requirements and provide it to the group’s head office (e.g.
central office or collecting point). For points of origin the risk of non-
compliance and fraud mainly depends on the amount of waste or processing
residues generated. Thus, the total number of group members (n) is composed

24 Art. 74(2) of Regulation (EU) No. 1306/2013 on the financing, management and monitoring of the
common agricultural policy

© ISCC System GmbH

 68

ISCC PLUS
of the number of producers that generate a relevant amount of waste and
residues (see Chapter 8.4.5) and which have signed the self-declaration
during the twelve months prior to the audit. This is irrespective of the amount
(if any) of material supplied as sustainable by the point of origin in the previous
certification period.

The principles for calculating the sample size are equally applied to dependent Dependent
storage facilities (rented by certified System Users) if sampling is applied. storage facilities

Selecting the Sample:

The external auditor conducting the group audit must select individual group Selecting group
members to be included in the sample for verification of compliance with the members for
audit
ISCC requirements. The group members to be audited should be selected so
that the whole group is represented in a well-balanced manner. The selection
should be based on a combination of risk-based selection and random
selection. The auditor must consider at least the following factors when
determining the sample:

> Type of supplied raw material (if applicable, these should be

represented appropriately in the random sample)

> Different sizes of suppliers

> Geographical location, e.g. by clustering the relevant area into
different risk areas

> Indication of non-conformity or fraud

Random and
At least 25% of the selected group members should be chosen randomly. For risk-based
the risk-based selection, the auditor should preferentially select group selection
members where there are indications of non-conformity or fraud, or group
members that are located in high-risk areas. In the case different risk areas
have been identified by remote sensing analysis, e.g. via satellite data or
databases, the selection of the sample should also take into account results
and findings from previous audits conducted in the area (if available).

Where appropriate and in accordance with the criteria for risk-based and New group
random selection, the auditor may select group members in a way that members in
subsequent
facilitates a cost-efficient auditing process, e.g. by selecting group members audits
that are located near each other. As long as there is no indication of non-
conformity from specific group members, none of the successfully audited
entities from the previous year shall be part of the sample in consecutive
audits, as long as there remain some entities that have not yet been subject
to an external audit. As a general requirement, auditors should aim for
selecting samples in a way to ensure that all group members are equally
covered, generally within a timeframe of five years.
Factors for
sample selection

© ISCC System GmbH

 69

ISCC PLUS
The following factors bear specific relevance for group certification and must
be considered by the auditor25:

a Factors related to the type and size:

• Size of the group member

• Type of operation
• Value and amount of the products
b Factors related to specific characteristics:

• Degree of similarity of the production systems and the crops or

raw materials within the group

• Risks of intermingling and/or contamination

c Experience gained:

• Number of years the group has functioned

• Number of new members registered yearly
• Nature of the problems encountered during audits in the previous
years and results of previous evaluations of the internal audit
system’s effectiveness

• Management of the internal auditors’ potential conflicts of

interests

• Staff turnover
ISCC can determine additional specific regulations for certain regions/areas if
this becomes necessary, e.g. due to concrete risk.

Audit of the Sample:

The group members selected by the external auditor for verification of Consequences
compliance must be audited successfully to demonstrate compliance with the of non-
compliance
ISCC requirements. It is generally expected that group certification audits are
conducted on-site, unless conducted with tools that provide the same level of
assurance as an on-site audit and which are explicitly approved by ISCC for
conducting remote audits (see ISCC EU System Document 201 “System
Basics”). In the case that the external auditor detects that one or more group
members from the sample are non-complaint with ISCC requirements, or one
or more group members refuse to participate in the audit, the sample size (s)
of the current audit must be doubled. The group members from the initial
sample that have passed the audit successfully can be counted towards the
increased sample. In particular cases, in which System Users have applied
the highest levels of assurance (e.g. by using appropriate risk mitigation tools)

25 These factors are formulated in correspondence with the Guidance document for the evaluation of the
equivalence of organic producer group certification schemes applied in developing countries (EEC
November 6th, 2003)

© ISCC System GmbH

 70

ISCC PLUS
deviation from this rule may be considered in consultation with and after
approval by ISCC. “Non-compliant” means that mandatory requirements of
ISCC are not complied with, and compliance cannot be ensured within 40
days after the audit by implementing corrective measures. If in the increased
sample, further group members are detected not fulfilling the ISCC
requirements, the increased sample must be doubled again, and so forth. This
process may continue until 100% of the group members have been audited.
Group members that are audited and found to be non-compliant must be
excluded from the group and from the certification under ISCC. Group
members that have been excluded may only participate in ISCC again once
they have successfully passed an individual audit.

In order to avoid misuse and fraud, group members which are audited as not Reporting to
complying with ISCC requirements must be reported to ISCC by the ISCC
certification body.

8.5.6 Group Certification Approach for Country Dealers / Limited Risk

Distributors (LRD)

LRDs are own legal entities and are active in certain countries (sales regions)
Definition LRD
for corporate groups having a business principal that acts as central trader
and is in charge of all the purchasing and selling operations (a.o.). Business
principals control a centralized Enterprise Resource System (ERP) but do not
receive physical ownership of sustainable material. The sustainable material
is sold to the paper traders in all relevant sales markets who then sell the
sustainable product to a third party in the country. For such setups, LRD
certification is possible if all required documentation is available at the
business principal. A list of all paper traders belonging to the group must be
verified in the audit and provided to ISCC together with other relevant audit
documentation.

Figure 4: Sales process flow for the Limited Risk Distributors (LRDs)

Specifications for LRDs:

> must be part of the corporate group (certificate holder has at least Preconditions
50% equity share). Branches of the same legal entity at a different
address can also be considered as LRDs

© ISCC System GmbH

 71

ISCC PLUS
> publicly available information that links traders to the corporate group
(e.g. annual financial reports)

> must be part of the central material flow documentation system of the
corporate group in a way that all relevant data can be approached
from the certificate holder headquarter

> only act as a paper trader, meaning they buy and sell the certified
material in the central system while the physical flow of the material
is straight from the production unit to the customer. The processing
unit issues the Sustainability Declaration to the recipient of the
physical material respectively (the LRD does not issue any delivery
documents and/or Sustainability Declarations)

> only sells products produced by a processing unit that is part of the
corporate group and invoices these upon selling

> must not be active for other companies, i.e. trader is contracted as
sole provider of distribution for the manufacturing company
The LRD does not need to be audited separately in case all relevant data can Audit
be accessed from the business principal’s system where the audit takes requirements
places. Audit requirements and required documentation remain according to
all other relevant ISCC Documents (including ISCC EU 201, 204) so that
during the audit of the business principal it is a.o. verified that deliveries of
sustainable material from the processing units are balanced with the sum of
sales of sustainable material by all entities involved. The business principal
needs to keep a list of all LRDs and document all purchases and sales of ISCC
sustainable material.

There must be a link between the LRD invoicing and the dispatch of product
at the processing unit. It needs to be ensured that the customers of the
sustainable material are aware under which ISCC certificate the LRD is
covered in order to be able to check the certificate’s validity on the ISCC
homepage. For this, the verified list can be provided to clients of LRDs. In
case additional LRDs are added between two ISCC PLUS audits, this needs
to be reported to the CB and the updated list needs to be provided to ISCC by
the CB.

8.5.7 Group Certification Approach for Final Product Refinement

Activities

The group certification approach for Final Product Refinement (FPR) activities
(see Chapter 8.4.8) is applicable for certificate holders that outsource FPR
activities to various sites in different locations. These sites can either belong
to the same legal entity as the certificate holder or to an external company that
provides a contracted service for the certificate holder. As a precondition for
the FPR group certification, the legal ownership of the certified material must
always remain with the certificate holder (who will be called the FPR group
head). The FPR group head shall always be certified under the scope FPR. In
case a processing unit is outsourcing FPR activities, the FPR scope must be

© ISCC System GmbH

 72

ISCC PLUS
added to the certificate. The FPR group head (= owner of material) shall be
responsible for the fulfilment of all relevant ISCC requirements, including the
conduction of mass balances, issuing sustainability declarations and the
reporting of sustainable volumes to ISCC. Audit requirements and required
documentation remain according to all other relevant ISCC documents (e.g.
ISCC EU 201, 204). All the outsourced activities shall always be recorded (e.g.
by a centralized ERP system of the FPR group head) and kept in a list that
must be provided to the ISCC head office. The certificate issued by the CB
must indicate the group members on the annex of the certificate. In a set-up
where the same material or product is received in several sites but with
differing shares of certified material, it is possible to make an average claim
on the final product (e.g., in B2C communication, marketing, on-product claim)
if verifiable by the CB (e.g. via a centralized ERP system).

Specifications for group certification of FPR activities:

> The certificate holder outsourcing FPR activities must be certified

under the scope Final Product Refinement

> Processing activities cannot be covered by the group certification

approach

> No further outsourcing of outsourced activities is possible

> Only sites that physically receive certified material can be covered by
the group certification approach

> During the period of validity of a certificate, additional outsourced

activities and sites related to the certified material can be added.
Precondition is that the list of outsourced activities and sites must be
kept up-to-date and the certification body has to be informed about
any changes to the list

> The group members shall be audited on a sample basis. The sample
size should be calculated according to the same requirements as in
the Chapter 8.5.5. The risk level should be increased if external
companies are part of the group or if the outsourced activities are
complex and may result in higher losses. A regular risk level shall only
be applied if all group members are part of the corporate structure of
the group head

> For each sample audit of a group member, the sample audit
procedure for FPR group members is required

> For each outsourced site, a mass balance and all other relevant
documentation (e.g. contracts, flow of material, conversion factor)
must be kept, controlled and recorded by the group head

> All external contractors that are group members must provide a “self-
declaration for outsourcing” to the group head (see requirements
below)

© ISCC System GmbH

 73

ISCC PLUS
> All group members must be listed in the annex of the certificate of the
group head

A signed self-declaration from an external group member must be provided to

the group head. By signing the self-declaration, the entity declares compliance
with all legal obligations as well as the relevant ISCC requirements and
confirms to give external auditors access to the premises to verify conformity
with the ISCC requirements. No party other than the external group member
is allowed to sign the self-declaration.

Requirements of the self-declaration for outsourcing:

> Conformity with all applicable ISCC requirements

> Must not make unauthorized use of the ISCC logos and claims (e.g.
on other products or for its own communication)

> Declaration that no further outsourcing will be done

> Accept the right of the certificate holder’s CB to audit the site

> Keep records of inputs, outputs, activities and delivery documentation

associated with all material covered by the contract with the group
head

© ISCC System GmbH

 74

ISCC PLUS
9 Requirements for Chain of Custody

9.1 Chain of Custody Methods

‘Chain of custody’ is a process by which inputs and outputs and associated Chain of custody
information are transferred, monitored and controlled as they move through
each step in the relevant supply chain (ISO 22095:2020). This provides
credibility that a given batch of material or product is associated with a set of
specific characteristics (e.g. regarding sustainability) and that the information
on the specific characteristics linked to the material or product is transferred,
monitored and controlled.

The traceability and evidence of the sustainability characteristics of materials Assignment of

are achieved through the application of the traceability measures as described sustainability
characteristics
in Chapter 8 and the application of an eligible chain of custody method. This
also ensures that the sustainability characteristics remain assigned to batches
of material, and that the amount of material withdrawn at any stage of the
supply chain does not exceed the amount supplied. The term ‘batch’ describes
a specific amount of material with the same sustainability characteristics. In
the following the term ‘batch’ will be uniformly used.

This chapter provides a detailed description of the methodologies for the chain
of custody options26 that can be applied according to the ISCC PLUS
standard: physical segregation, mass balance and controlled blending.

Physical segregation is the strictest method and means that materials with
different properties are kept physically separated from each other on their
journey through the supply chain. Two types of physical segregation are
possible:

> Identity preservation or Hard IP: the physical mix of non-sustainable

and sustainable material is not allowed. Furthermore, sustainable
materials with different sustainability characteristics (e.g. origin of raw
material, GHG emissions etc.) must be kept physically separate
throughout the supply chain

> Bulk commodity or Soft IP: the physical mix of non-sustainable and
sustainable material is not allowed. The physical mix of sustainable
materials with differing sustainability characteristics is allowed
throughout the supply chain

Controlled blending refers to a planned blending regime resulting in constant Controlled

and verifiable content of bio, circular and renewable feedstock in the final Blending
product. Blending is obtained by mixing the feedstocks/ products without a
chemical or biological reaction.

26 Please also see ISO 22095 for further information on Chain of Custody options. From ISCC
perspective the approaches are in general aligned with the standard. ISCC Standard requirements prevail
for ISCC audits.

© ISCC System GmbH

 75

ISCC PLUS
Mass balance allows the physical mix of sustainable materials with different Mass balance
sustainability and – if applicable – GHG emissions saving characteristics (in
the following referred to as sustainability characteristics) and non-sustainable
materials. The information about the sustainability characteristics and the size
of the batches with differing sustainability and – if applicable – GHG emissions
saving characteristics has to remain assigned to the mixture. The mass
balance also allows batches of raw material with differing energy content to
be mixed for the purpose of further processing, given that the size of the
batches is adjusted according to their energy content. The exact amounts and
sustainability characteristics of sustainable material that leaves any element
along the supply chain must be documented and must never exceed the
amount of sustainable material that enters the respective element.
The chain of custody option known as book-and-claim is not allowed under Book and claim
the ISCC PLUS. With book-and-claim the traceability at any stage of the
supply chain is not given, and no link between the sustainability characteristics
and the actual material flow can be provided.

Inventory (or stock) is the physical amount of sustainable and non-sustainable Inventory
material that is kept on-site by the economic operator in storage facilities. The
inventory is measured or metered. It is the basis for calculating a mass
balance, for determining credits at the end of a mass balance period and for
verifying the plausibility of amounts of sustainable and non-sustainable
material.

9.2 General Requirements

The certified party must split the quantity bookkeeping for all materials with Separate book-
different sets of sustainability characteristics even if the chain of custody keeping and
relevant
method allows for the physical mixing of material. The following sustainability sustainability
characteristics have to be distinguished in the quantity bookkeeping (see also characteristics
Chapter 8.3.3):

> Raw material category

> Chain of custody option (if multiple options are applied)
> Type of raw material (optional) (for example, rapeseed, soybean,
UCO)

> Country of origin of the raw material (optional)

> Information on GHG emissions (optional)
> Waste status (post-/pre-consumer/mixed/unspecified)
> Different specifications of the material (if applicable)
> For biogas supply chains: Statement if for the production of the biogas
incentives/subsidies were received and if yes, type of the support
scheme

© ISCC System GmbH

 76

ISCC PLUS
If materials are processed or losses of material occur due to internal company
processes, the appropriate conversion factors shall be used to adjust the size
of batches accordingly.
If a mixture is split up, a set of sustainability characteristics can be assigned Split up of
to any batch that is taken out. The sum of all batches withdrawn from the mixture
mixture must have the same sustainability characteristics in equal quantities,
as the sum of all the batches added to the mixture.

Within the quantity bookkeeping, batches of input material can be merged if

they have the same sustainability characteristics and are handled under the
same chain of custody option. Batches of input materials cannot be merged
within the bookkeeping if they have different sustainability characteristics or
none or are handled under different chain of custody options.

Deviations between the amount of material physically in stock and the material Deviations
documented in the quantity bookkeeping may occur. This can be the case, for between
physical and
example, if the amount of sustainable material as stated on a Sustainability documented
Declaration is higher or smaller than the amount shown on the weighbridge stock
for the actual received material. If during an audit a deviation of up to 0.5% is
detected between the material physically in stock and the material in stock
according to the quantity bookkeeping this can be accepted without further
explanation. Any deviations larger than 0.5% have to be documented
appropriately and verified during the audit. For the quantity bookkeeping the
actual quantities should be used e.g. quantities that can be proven by
weighbridge protocols or other such means. In case of incorrect information
on incoming Sustainability Declarations the issuing party should be contacted
(see also Chapter 8.3.2).
The sustainability characteristics of a specific amount of sustainable material No multiple
can only be used once and for one application only. So-called “multiple accounting
allowed
accounting” is not allowed under ISCC. Multiple accounting is a serious
violation of ISCC requirements. The risk for multiple accounting increases if a
company is simultaneously certified under more than one certification
scheme.

The multiple accounting of individual sustainability characteristics, such as the No multiple

GHG savings, is also prohibited. Example: If a company has installed methane accounting of
GHG savings
capture devices which result in higher GHG savings of their output, these
GHG savings may be accounted under one framework, i.e. under ISCC PLUS
issuing a Sustainability Declaration. In this scenario the company would not
be allowed to use the GHG savings in the framework of other systems or
regimes as well (e.g. clean development mechanism, CDM). Accounting of
GHG savings related to one batch of material under ISCC and once again
under another scheme or regime must not take place.
To minimise the risk of multiple accounting an eligible and high-level member Awareness of
of staff of the economic operator issuing the Sustainability Declarations has multiple
accounting risk
to sign a statement/declaration confirming the awareness that multiple
accounting is not allowed.

© ISCC System GmbH

 77

ISCC PLUS
In order to ensure that no multiple accounting takes place the auditor must
Verification of
verify during the audit whether a company is certified under more than one documents for all
certification scheme by verifying audit reports, mass balances and other schemes
documentation of the schemes used. The economic operators have to declare
the names of all schemes they participate in and have to provide the auditor
with all relevant information and documentation on the schemes used (see
also ISCC EU System Document 201 “System Basics”)

Each economic operator has to operate an information system which is able Information
to keep track of the amounts of sustainable material sourced and sold. This system
could include, inter alia, a digital database, documentation with unique
reference numbers for batches or similar.

The quantity bookkeeping and physical mixture of sustainable material is

limited to certain periodical and spatial boundaries.
Periodical boundaries define the timeframe in which the input and output of Periodical
boundaries
materials with specific sustainability characteristics must be balanced. The
maximum timeframe (period) is three months. Appropriate arrangements are
necessary to ensure that the balance is respected.

The spatial boundary defines the location (spatial entity) for which the chain Spatial
boundaries
of custody requirements has to be applied. Mass balances, as well as both
segregation methods are at least site specific. This means that they have to
refer to one geographical location with precise boundaries (site of operation)
within which materials can be mixed, for example in a container, processing
or logistical facility. A mass balance system can also be operated for a
transmission and distribution infrastructure (e.g. gas grid)). If more than one
legal entity operates at one location each legal entity is required to operate its
own quantity bookkeeping (e.g. mass balance).

If biogenic and fossil material are mixed in a joint conversion process (co- Transfer of
processed) or are stored jointly in the same physical compartment (i.e. one sustainability
characteristics
individual tank or a pipeline) then the equivalent to the amount of the biogenic
input can be claimed as sustainable. The same applies for biogenic materials
having different physical phases or states as these states are determined by
different energy levels. Sustainability characteristics can therefore only be
transferred if these biogenic materials with different states are stored in the
same physical compartment or are jointly processed. For example, the
transfer of the sustainability characteristics from biomethane to bio-LNG is
only possible if the respective quantities share the same physical storage
facility or pipeline or are jointly processed. If sustainability characteristics were
transferred from one material to another the CB has to verify during the audit
that this was not applied to materials with different energy states which were
not co-processed or physically stored in the same physical compartment.
9.2.1 Conversion Factors

Conversion factor (CF) is used to account for the losses from the processing Changes in
of sustainable materials. Conversion factors are applied to determine the quantities

© ISCC System GmbH

 78

ISCC PLUS
output of a specific product based on the amount of a specific input material
that entered a processing step. Conversion factors have to be provided by all
the elements in the chain of custody where changes in quantities occur and
must be applied when there is change in quantity of a specific material due to
processing, irrespective of the chosen chain of custody option. They must be
clearly documented and are subject to verification during the audit.
The determination of the conversion factors must be conducted based on the
operational data of the processing unit. It is not allowed to determine the
conversion factors based on theoretical data. Each plant (e.g. a cracker, a
polymerization plant), which is combined under one certificate at one site, has
its own conversion factor. Depending on which process steps are used to
manufacture a product or which plants are passed through, the corresponding
conversion factors must be considered. Conversion factors do not need to be
calculated for each single product. “Product groups” can be defined to
determine “simplified conversion factors” for all products from this group. The
conversion factor for the whole group of products can be determined based
on the data for the most relevant product from this group or via determining a
“weighted” average. Precondition for the use of simplified conversion factors
is that a transparent description of the defined product groups exists and that
there is a clear link to respective data in the documentation system which must
be provided during the audit to the third-party verifier.

The conversion factor of a specific product for a certain period is calculated

as follows:
CF (%) = Ao/Ai * 100

CF: Conversion Factor

Ao: Amount of output yielded by the internal process
based on input Ai
Ai: Amount of the process input material
The allocation of sustainability and – if applicable – GHG emission Adjustment of
characteristics to outgoing batches is limited by the conversion factor relevant sustainability
characteristics
for the supply route of the sustainable material.

9.3 Physical Segregation

9.3.1 General Requirements

Physical segregation is the chain of custody method under which sustainable
and non-sustainable material is kept physically separated.

Two levels of physical segregation can be applied: the segregation of Hard and Soft IP
sustainable from non-sustainable material (Bulk Commodity or Soft IP) or the
segregation of all batches of sustainable material with different sustainability
characteristics (Identity Preserved or Hard IP).

© ISCC System GmbH

 79

ISCC PLUS
Under physical segregation, it must be possible to identify batches of material
throughout the entire production and distribution process.

Physical segregation can be achieved by:

1 Setting up parallel processes for production, storage and transport

2 Setting up sequential (periodical) processes at the site of production,

storage or transport

9.3.2 Identity Preserved or Hard IP

Under Hard IP sustainable batches of material can be physically identified Physical
throughout the entire production and distribution process. The physical segregation of all
batches
separation applies to sustainable material from different types of raw materials
and with different other sustainability characteristics.

Since the mixing of sustainable material with different characteristics is not Identity
allowed, the identity of the material between the quantity bookkeeping and the preserved
physical product is preserved. The Hard IP option can only be applied if the
input material was also physically segregated under Hard IP throughout the
whole upstream supply chain.
The quantity bookkeeping of the batches is always identical to the physical
status (also see Figure 5 (for simplification a conversion factor of one (CF=1)
is applied), i.e. batches 123, 124 and 125 are segregated physically and in the
bookkeeping.
Hard IP can be applied if batches 123 and 124 differ in terms of at least one
of the sustainability characteristics.

Operational Unit (e.g. Processing Unit)

Sustainable Batch 123 Batch 123 Batch 123 Sustainable

Physical Sustainable Batch 124 Batch 124 Batch 124 Sustainable
Non-Sustainable Batch 125 Batch 125 Batch 125 Non Sustainable

Input Company Internal Process Output

Batch Kind Amount (t) Batch Kind Amount (t) Batch Kind Amount (t)
Book- 123 Sustainable 500 123 Sustainable 500 123 Sustainable 500
keeping 124 Sustainable 1500 124 Sustainable 1500 124 Sustainable 1500
125 Non-Sustainable 1000 125 Non-Sustainable 1000 125 Non-Sustainable 1000
Total 3000 Total 3000 Total 3000

Figure 5: Physical Segregation of all Batches (CF=1)

Figure 6 illustrates that the sustainability characteristics of the incoming

batches are the same apart from the country of origin of the raw material. For
incoming batch 123 the country of origin is Canada while for batch 124 the
country of origin of the raw material is the USA. This means that batch 123
and 124 can neither be merged physically nor in the bookkeeping. The
different countries of origin are both stated on the incoming and outgoing
Sustainability Declarations, and thus the sustainability characteristics as
stated in the bookkeeping matches with the characteristics of the physical
batches.

© ISCC System GmbH

 80

ISCC PLUS
Figure 6: Assigning Sustainability Characteristics to outgoing Batches via
Sustainability Declarations (CF =1)

With respect to the balance of the system, at no point in time can more
material with specific sustainability characteristics be withdrawn than the
equivalent material that has been added, e.g. the outgoing batch 123 shall not
exceed 500 tons. The outgoing batches can be split into sub-batches with
different quantities as long as the sum of all sub-batches does not exceed the
total quantity (e.g. outgoing batch 123 could be split into 3 sub-batches of 100,
150 and 250 tons with the same sustainability characteristics, in the case of
the conversion factor being 1).

9.3.3 Bulk Commodity or Soft IP

The Soft IP option requires the physical separation of the sustainable material Sustainable
and non-sustainable material. Batches of sustainable material can be material can be
mixed
physically mixed even if sustainability characteristics are different (see Figure
7). The Soft IP option can only be applied if the input material was also treated
as Soft IP or Hard IP throughout the whole upstream supply chain.

In the quantity bookkeeping, sustainable batches with different sustainability

characteristics have to be kept separated. Only batches with similar
sustainability characteristics can be merged in the bookkeeping.

Operational Unit (e.g. Processing Unit)

Sustainable Batch 123

Batch 126 Batch 127 Sustainable
Physical Sustainable Batch 124
Non-Sustainable Batch 125 Batch 125 Batch 125 Non Sustainable

Input Company Internal Process Output

Batch Kind Amount (t) Batch Kind Amount (t) Batch Kind Amount (t)
Book- 123 Sustainable 500 126 Sustainable 2000 127 Sustainable 2000
keeping 124 Sustainable 1500
125 Non-Sustainable 1000 125 Non-Sustainable 1000 125 Non-Sustainable 1000
Total 3000 Total 3000 Total 3000

Figure 7: Physical Segregation of Sustainable and Non-Sustainable Batches (CF=1)

If batches 123 and 124 have different sustainability characteristics, e.g.

country of origin of the raw material, the Sustainability Declarations of the

© ISCC System GmbH

 81

ISCC PLUS
outgoing batches 127 and 128 have to contain the same sustainability
characteristics as the incoming sustainability characteristics of batches 123
and 124 and cannot exceed the quantity of 500 tons or respectively 1500 tons,
assumed that the conversion factor being 1 (Figure 8).

Figure 8: Assigning Sustainability Characteristics to Outgoing Batches via

Sustainability Declarations (CF=1)

If a physical mixture of sustainable material is split up, the sustainability

characteristics from the bookkeeping can be assigned to any physical batch
of sustainable material. Batches of output material can be split up into sub-
batches as long as the total quantity of the sub-batches with the respective
sustainability characteristics does not exceed the total quantity of the
sustainable material.

With respect to the balance of the system at no point in time can more material
with specific sustainable characteristics be withdrawn than the equivalent
material has been added (e.g. the outgoing batch 127 in Figure 8 shall not
exceed 500 tons, (assuming a conversion factor of 1).

9.4 Mass Balance

9.4.1 General Requirements

Under the mass balance system, the sustainability characteristics remain Mass balance
assigned to batches of material on a bookkeeping basis while the physical
mixing of material with different sustainability characteristics and the mixing of
sustainable and non-sustainable material is allowed. Any kind of mass
balance operation and calculation shall only be related to sustainable material.
A mass balance always refers to the physical inputs, outputs and
inventory/stock (sustainable and non-sustainable) of a specific product. The
allocation of sustainability characteristics to outgoing batches is limited by the
conversion factor relevant for the supply route related to the sustainable
material.

© ISCC System GmbH

 82

ISCC PLUS
Due to the physical mixing, the mixture loses its individual properties. The Information
sustainability and – if applicable – GHG emissions saving characteristics of remain assigned
materials can therefore only be determined via the bookkeeping. This requires to mixture
the calculation of mass balances and the verification of the mass balance
calculation with respect to the chosen period for balancing. The mass balance
has to contain information concerning all the sustainability and – if applicable
– GHG emissions saving characteristics and the sizes of the batches with the
different sustainability characteristics that are mixed. The information has to
remain assigned to the mixture. The sum of all batches that are withdrawn
from the mixture has to have the same sustainability characteristics in the
same quantities as the sum of all the batches that were added to the mixture.
This balance has to be achieved over an appropriate period of time.

A mass balance must be site-specific, i.e. they shall at least be operated at Site specific
the level of a geographical location with precise boundaries within which the mass balance
materials can be mixed. “Sites” refer to locations/addresses of individual legal
entities. A separate mass balance shall be set up for every production site,
even if they are under the same legal entity. This also applies to external
storage facilities used or storage facilities certified as part of a logistics
network, for example. In these cases, separate mass balances for each
storage site have to be kept. If more than one legal entity is operating at one
site, each legal entity is required to operate its own mass balances.

If an economic operator is certified under multiple scopes the mass balance Scope specific
should be specific to the certified scopes. “Scopes” refer to market activities, mass balance
e.g. collecting, trading and processing sustainable material (for further
explanation please see ISCC System Document 102). This means the
economic operator must be able to demonstrate which transactions have been
made under each scope by indicating the input and output of each scope
separately. The amounts processed in different processing steps should be
covered in separate mass balances unless it is ensured that the entire input
is processed into the same output. A certified processing unit must be able to
demonstrate the types and amounts of material that are physically processed
in the certified unit. Exact descriptions of incoming and outgoing materials per
certified scope are essential. If a processing unit buys and sells sustainable
material but does not physically process the material, this transaction must be
covered under the certification scope trader. For each mass balance the
complete documentation has to be available for verification during the audit.

Mass balances have to be kept material-specific indicating the respective raw Material specific
material.

Sustainable material can only be included in a mass balance if it is physically Physical link
received at the site of the economic operator covered by certification, i.e. a required
physical link between the mass balance and the material is required. It is not
possible to add sustainable material to a mass balance without the physical
intake of the material at the site for which the mass balance is kept (e.g. no
“jetty kissing” allowed).

© ISCC System GmbH

 83

ISCC PLUS
The same sustainability characteristics as provided on Sustainability Sustainability
Declarations have to be distinguished in the bookkeeping (see Chapter 8.3). characteristics

For the mass balance calculation, a timeframe must be defined by the end of Mass balance
which the total mass of incoming and outgoing batches with corresponding period
sustainability characteristics has to be balanced. Under ISCC, the maximum
timeframe for a mass balance calculation is three months. There is an
exception for producers of agricultural biomass (farms/plantations) or forest
biomass and first gathering points sourcing only agricultural biomass or forest
biomass. For those economic operators the mass balance period can be up
to twelve months. However, if the mass balance period is longer than three
months it is not possible to go into deficit within the mass balance period (i.e.
it is not possible to sell more material as sustainable than is available in the
mass balance). In all cases appropriate arrangements are necessary to
ensure that the balance is adhered to.

Participants in the ISCC scheme may choose a period less than three months,
for example, one month. The rationale for the maximum period of three
months is twofold:

> A shorter mass balance calculation period does not offer additional
security against fraud

> Reducing the period to much shorter timeframes will increase the costs
significantly and reduce the flexibility for market players without
improving security and sustainability in the supply chain
Mass balance periods shall be continuous in time, i.e. gaps between mass
balance periods shall not occur. This means that even for periods in which no
movement of sustainable material occurs, mass balances have to be kept.
The mass balance periods for the certification period (i.e. start and end date)
must be clearly documented by the System User and will be verified during
the audit. Any changes in the mass balance period must be clearly
documented by the economic operator and must be reported to the
certification body before the adjustment. For each mass balance period the
following documentation on the mass balance calculation has to be available
and will be verified during the audit:

> Start and end date of mass balance period

> Inventory of input and output at the beginning of the mass balance
period

> Amount and description of incoming and outgoing material during the
mass balance period

> Amount of credits that can be transferred to the next period (if
available) (see Chapter 9.4.2)

> Amount of credits from previous period (if available) (see Chapter
9.4.2)

© ISCC System GmbH

 84

ISCC PLUS
> Conversion factor (if applicable)
It is possible to downgrade sustainable material with a higher sustainability Downgrading of
category (i.e. add-ons were covered by certification), for example to material
compensate a negative mass balance of sustainable material with a lower
sustainability category (i.e. less or no add-ons applied) (see Figure 9).
However, this is only possible if all other sustainability characteristics are
identical. If an ISCC certified system user receives sustainable material
forwarded under the chain of custody option “mass balance” it is not possible
to switch to the chain of custody “physical segregation” for the same material
afterwards.

Figure 9: Negative balance of sustainable material can be balanced by sustainable material

with a higher sustainability category (all other sustainability characteristics have to be identical)

The mass balance approach can also be applied to gas transmission and Mass balance for
distribution infrastructure (i.e. gas grid). Renewable gases, such as the gas grid
possible
biomethane can be mixed in the gas grid if the infrastructure is interconnected,
i.e. if the economic operator feeding the renewable gas into the grid and the
economic operator taking the gas out of the grid are physically interconnected
through the grid. Both economic operators have to document the injection and
withdrawal respectively, and both must be certified under ISCC.

The economic operator has to submit all mass balances to the certification Mass balance
body conducting the audit prior to the audit. This applies to all mass balances available to
auditor prior to
relevant for the certification of the economic operator, i.e. every site (external audit
storage facility or dependent collecting point) covered by the certificate. The
audit cannot be started if the mass balances are not provided to the auditor
within an appropriate time prior to the audit (i.e. the auditor should have a
reasonable amount of time to be able to get a detailed understanding of the
mass balance). In case of an initial (first) audit the economic operator has to
set up a mass balance system which is checked by the auditor during the
audit. See Chapter 9.4.9 for a detailed overview of the requirements for mass
balance audits.

© ISCC System GmbH

 85

ISCC PLUS
If a company is operating mass balances under different certification schemes Access to all
the auditor has to be able to access all mass balances for all certification mass balances
schemes that the company is using.
9.4.2 Credit Transfer

If more sustainable material is received than dispatched within one mass Credit
balance period, the surplus of sustainable material in the bookkeeping is
called “credit”. It is possible to transfer credits from one mass balance period
to the next. This is possible regardless of the amount of material in stock
(sustainable and unsustainable) at the end of the mass balance period. It
should be ensured that a company is continuously certified, i.e. that no time
gaps between certification periods occur.
A negative mass balance is not permitted under ISCC. A negative mass Negative mass
balance occurs if less sustainable material has been received than dispatched balance not
allowed
if at the end of a mass balance period (including existing inventory of
sustainable material that was available at the beginning of the mass balance
period). If a negative mass balance occurs at the end of a mass balance
period, the certified company must inform the certification body immediately
and without being requested.

At the end of a mass balance period the quantity bookkeeping either has to Mass balance
be balanced or have credits of sustainable material that can be carried verification
forward. To verify if the amounts of sustainable input and output material are
balanced at the end of the period or if credits occur the following calculation
has to be applied.

B = (A + a)*CF + b
With:

B-C=0 Balanced bookkeeping (no credits available)

B - C > 0: Credits (positive balance)

B - C < 0: Negative balance (not allowed)

A: Incoming sustainable material for the entire mass balance

period

C: Outgoing sustainable material for the entire mass balance

period (i.e. material that was physically dispatched)
B: Total amount of available sustainable material for the entire
period (= amount of material that can potentially be dispatched
as sustainable during the mass balance period)

a: Inventory of sustainable (input) material at the beginning of the

period

b: Inventory of sustainable (output) material at the beginning of

the period (applicable for processing units)
CF: Average conversion factor during the mass balance period

© ISCC System GmbH

 86

ISCC PLUS
This calculation has to be based on the actual amount of incoming sustainable
material and the inventory of sustainable input material available during the
respective mass balance period.
For operations that do not result in a change of quantity of the material, such
as the storage of materials, the conversion factor (CF) can be assumed to be
1 (CF=1). Figure 10 provides an overview of the applicable coefficients to
verify a mass balance for the example of a processing unit.

Figure 10: Overview of coefficients to verify a mass balance. Example Processing Unit

Credit transfer
Transferring credits between materials is only allowed for identical products
between
or product groups27. Furthermore, the respective sustainability characteristics materials
have to be reflected when transferring credits between materials. For
example, it is not possible to transfer credits between materials with a different
scope of raw material certification.
Mass balances shall be kept strictly site-specific. Credits achieved within one Multi-site
site’s mass balance cannot be transferred to another site’s mass balance. An credit transfer
exception applies for processing units and storage facilities28 certified under
ISCC PLUS. They can transfer credits between different sites under the
following conditions:

> Supplier and recipient of credits must be part of the same

company/corporate group/joint venture (see specification below)

> Sites must be located within national borders or within neighbouring

countries (sharing an inland border)

> Sites must have the same scope of certification

> Applicable only for the same kind of outgoing intermediate or final
product (the output on the certificate annex has to be the same)

> Mass balances must be kept site-specific

> ISCC certification must be in place for all sites

> Certificates can be issued by differing certification bodies if full

documentation is available

27 Please refer to the ISCC List of Eligible Materials

28 Not applicable for raw materials and audit scopes farm/plantation, forest sourcing area, FGP, PoO,
CP, FPR

© ISCC System GmbH

 87

ISCC PLUS
Under ISCC PLUS it is also possible to transfer credits between sites that are
Multi-site-
part of the same or corporate group or joint venture. A corporate group is credit transfer
defined as a number of consolidated legal entities guided by a parent for joint
company. Precondition for the latter case is that the company transferring ventures
credits to another operational unit (being part of the JV) holds at least 50% in
the other company. This has to be proven accordingly to the auditor. The other
additional requirements for multi-site credit transfer under ISCC as stated
above remain unchanged and have to be equally fulfilled.

Operations that are both certified under ISCC EU and ISCC PLUS can transfer
credits from ISCC EU to ISCC PLUS mass balances, if the material is “ISCC
Compliant” and the other sustainable characteristics are identical. However, it
is not possible to transfer credits from ISCC PLUS to ISCC EU mass balances.

9.4.3 Mass Balance Bookkeeping

Under the mass balance method, batches of sustainable material (which may
have different sustainability characteristics) and non-sustainable material can
be physically mixed within internal company processes (see Figure 11). Within
a mass balance period, batches of sustainable material with the same
sustainability characteristics (including raw materials, country of origin, GHG
emissions, etc.) can be arbitrarily merged or split within the bookkeeping as
long as the sum of all batches that are withdrawn from the mixture have the
same sustainability characteristics in the same quantities as were added to
the mixture.
In the example given in figure 11, batches 129 and 130 are declared as non-
sustainable and the outgoing batches 126, 127 and 128 are declared as
sustainable in the bookkeeping although all batches are physically a mixture
of the sustainable and non-sustainable input materials.

Figure 11: Quantity Credit Methodology (CF=1)

Batches which have the same sustainability characteristics apart from their
GHG emission values can be aggregated (see Chapter 11.4). If, in the
example of Figure 12, the GHG values of batches 123, 124 and 125 can be
aggregated and could be applied to all outgoing batches 127-131 (assuming
that their other sustainability characteristics are identical).

© ISCC System GmbH

 88

ISCC PLUS
Batch 123 Operational Unit (e.g. Processing Unit) Batch 127 Sustainable
Sustainable 300 kgCO /t
2equi

Batch 128 Sustainable

Physical Sustainable Batch 124 Batch 126 Batch 129 Sustainable
400 kgCO /t
2equi

Batch 130 Sustainable

Sustainable Batch 125
500 kgCO /t
2equi
Batch 131 Sustainable

Input Company Internal Process Output

GHG value GHG value GHG value Amount
Batch Kind Amount (t) Batch Kind Amount (t) Batch Kind
(kgCO /t)
2equi ( )
kgCO /t
2equi (kgCO /t)
2equi (t)
Book- 123 Sustainable 300 1000 126 Sustainable 300 1000 127 Sustainable 300 500
keeping 124 Sustainable 400 600 400 600 128 Sustainable 300 500
125 Sustainable 500 400 500 400 129 Sustainable 400 300
130 Sustainable 400 300
131 Sustainable 500 400
Total 2000 Total 2000 Total 2000

Figure 12: Bookkeeping of Batches with Different GHG Values (CF=1)

Under the mass balance approach, sustainability characteristics have to be

allocated to batches of outgoing material, i.e. what sustainability information
is included on Sustainability Declarations for outgoing material.
For intermediate products that are physically mixed separate Sustainability
Declarations have to be issued to reflect the share of materials in the mix

9.4.4 Mass Balancing Approach

For attributing the correct amount of sustainable output, the sustainable share Calculation of
must be calculated. The sustainable share is the amount of sustainable input conversion
material multiplied with the respective conversion factor of the processing unit. factors for mass
balance
The conversion factor is the amount of all outputs divided by the amount of all
approach
inputs. For the determination of the conversion factor, all process outputs
(products) as well as reactants (e.g. water) should be taken into account.
Process losses (e.g. gases to flare) are deducted from the conversion factor.
For mass balance calculations the conversion factor must reflect the
production during the respective mass balance period. If applicable, for GHG
calculations the yearly average of the conversion factor may be applied.

There must be an equivalence between the “ISCC Compliant” input and the
respectively claimed output (on a mass balance basis). If the final product
does not achieve 100% “ISCC Compliant” equivalence, the percentage must
be stated (e.g. on- and/or off-product). Equivalence means that the respective
amount of input to output has been sourced.

ISCC PLUS offers different options to conduct the mass balancing for a Options for mass
balancing under
certified processing unit and to determine the sustainable output (see Figure
ISCC PLUS
13).

© ISCC System GmbH

 89

ISCC PLUS
Figure 13: Overview on mass balancing options under ISCC PLUS

The sustainable output can be determined using an “attribution approach” Mass balancing
(Option 1 and 2, see Figure 13). In this case, the site of the processing unit based on input,
output and
defines the system boundaries. In case two or more processing units that can losses
be clearly separated from each other are located at the same site (one ISCC
PLUS certificate), the system boundaries for the attribution from input to
output can be separately defined for each certified processing unit. The
specific processes (e.g. chemical reactions) within the system boundaries of
the respective processing unit are not taken into account for the determination
of the sustainable share (for limitations of mass balancing see below and
Figure 15). Thus, the focus of the analysis is exclusively on the relevant input,
output and losses of the process. In order to calculate the sustainable share,
the amount of sustainable input, output and the losses can be described
based on their mass (option 1) or based on their energetic value (option 2).

For the mass balancing options 1 (attribution determined by mass) and 2 Certified free
attribution and
(attribution determined by energy) two supplementing options can be applied:
certified energy
“certified free attribution” and “certified energy excluded attribution”. The excluded
option “certified free attribution” allows the free attribution for the determination attribution for
of the sustainable share of input material to the output material. This means mass balancing
that the sustainable share can be attributed to one or several output materials
independent of the usage of the outputs. However, as described above,
process losses29 need to be considered for the calculation of the conversion
factor.
In case of the “certified energy excluded attribution” option, the part of
energetically used outputs which are derived from the sustainable input
material cannot be attributed to other output materials.30, 31 Energetically used
outputs are outputs that can be consumed internally (to provide energy for the

29 Process losses include parts of the material feedstocks (inputs) of a process, which are used
energetically and therefore not converted to products but to waste streams like CO2 (e.g. the part of
ethylene in ethylene oxide production which is oxidized to CO2 and hence used for energetical purposes
in the process). This does not include the internal energetical usage of fuel products (outputs) of a
process, e.g. a steam cracker (no “auto-consumption exempt” under certified free attribution).
30 This option is also referred to “fuel-exempt” and is in line with the definition of recycling in the EU
waste framework directive, which “does not include energy recovery and the reprocessing into materials
that are to be used as fuel” (directive 2008/98/EC, Art 3 (17)).
31 Details of the implementation of an energy excluded approach under ISCC PLUS are under
development, e.g. the consideration of products which can be used either for energetical purposes or as a
material feedstock. Different implementation options will be tested in pilots at ISCC system users and
additional guidance will be published separately to this system document.

© ISCC System GmbH

 90

ISCC PLUS
process, “auto-consumption”) and as well as sold (to be used at downstream
operators for energetic purposes). To calculate the part of the energetically
used outputs, which are derived from sustainable input material, an attribution
of the sustainable input material to energetically used outputs according to
real yields or input shares (on amass or energetic basis) is mandatory. This
sustainable share of energetically used outputs cannot be re-attributed to
material outputs32. The remaining sustainable share can be attributed freely
among all material outputs taking into accounts the limitation rules for
attribution. Figure 14 depicts a comparison of the two supplementing
attribution approaches with exemplary numbers.

Figure 14: Exemplary numbers for the two different supplementing attributions options for mass
balancing options 1 and 2. In the example the attribution is determined by mass (mass
balancing option 1).

Next to the above outlined attribution approaches, also the Trace-the-Atom Mass balancing
option (option 3, see Figure 13) can be used to determine the conversion based on chemical
factor and sustainable share. The equation of the chemical reaction used for reactions
the production of the sustainable product is followed. Consequently, the
conversion factor is based on the share of (carbon) atoms derived from the
sustainable input in relation to all (carbon) atoms that are part of the output
molecule. Operational data of the processing unit must be used to take
process losses into account and determine the sustainable output.

By applying one of the three options described above, claims cannot include
reference to the physical content of the output.

Using isotope measurements of the output, the actual present share of the Mass balancing
bio-based feedstocks can be determined in the final product. A 12C/ 14C based on bio-
isotope measurement (option 4, see Figure 13) can be used to determine content
the bio-based share in a product. In contrast to the options of calculating the measurements
process yield based on an analysis of in- and output materials, this option
measures the “physical” bio-content in a product. Here, in contrast to options
1-3, claims on the bio-based content can be made because it can be proven
that the output physically contains a certain amount of sustainable input.
Further information on accepted methods, measurement and sampling
regimes can be found in ISCC Guidance Document 203-01 “Co-Processing”.

For all of the above-mentioned options eligible under ISCC PLUS, the Limitations for mass
attribution/ determination is limited to: balancing

32 In case of simultaneous ISCC EU and PLUS certification: sustainable parts of sold fuels can be used
under ISSC EU.

© ISCC System GmbH

 91

ISCC PLUS
> process outputs that can potentially contain parts (molecules/atoms)
of the sustainable input after its processing/chemical reaction (à no
attribution to output, which cannot (chemically/ technically) include the
sustainable input).

> physical output (sustainable and non-sustainable) produced in the

respective mass balance period (à no attribution to a quantity of
output, which is not produced at the site within a mass balance period).

Site specific Process feasibility

Mass balancing must be site specific. It must be chemically/technically possible,
that the input molecular/atoms are
included in the attributed output.

Operational data Physical output

The conversion factor is determined Attributed sustainable output cannot be
based on operational data. higher than the physical output in a mass
balance period.

Transparency
Information on the used option for MB
(attribution) and on multi-site Credit
Transfer must be provided via
sustainability declaration.

Figure 15: Basic conditions for the ISCC PLUS mass balancing approach

Example calculations

a) Attribution determined by mass

Figure 16: Example calculation of attribution determined by mass

b) Attribution determined by energy

© ISCC System GmbH

 92

ISCC PLUS
Figure 17: Example calculation of attribution determined by energy

9.4.5 Consideration of Additives, Masterbatches and Non-sustainable

Organic Content for Mass Balancing
The sum of all additives, masterbatches and other non-sustainable organic Limits for
compounds must be less than 3% of the total mass or energetic value in order conversion factors
to be neglected from the mass balance calculation. Components that exceed
3% of the total quantity of the product must be entirely taken into account in
the mass balance calculation. Excluding the 3% from total amount of additives
is not possible.

Taking into account the tolerance level of neglection it is not allowed to use a
conversion factor >1.

9.4.6 Use of Consumption Factors

In case of a multistep reaction network at one site (e.g. chemical park) both,
bills of materials and/ or process orders may not allow to use the above stated
approach for the determination of the conversion factor of the site/ processing
unit. In such a case, each process step can be analysed individually, leading
to specific consumption factors for each individual input component of the
process step. Consumption factors reflect, how much input material (also
taking material losses due to chemical reactions or process inefficiencies into
account) must be used to produce a specific amount of the desired material/
component. For some processes and sites, consumption factors can be more
accurate in terms of raw material consumption than an overall conversion
factor for the whole processing unit. The determination of consumption factors
must always be site specific and based on bills of material and/ or process
orders being updated and adjusted based on actual consumption data on a
regular basis (e.g. annually).
9.4.7 Requirements for Mass Balancing of Renewable Electricity in
Electrolysis Processes

For processes in which electricity enables chemical reactions and is used to

produce one or several products, mass balancing is limited to a “proportional
approach” or “stoichiometric approach”. This means that the sustainable share
must be attributed to all process products in the same ratio in which these

© ISCC System GmbH

 93

ISCC PLUS
products are generated per unit of consumed electricity. A “re-attribution” or
“shift” of attributed sustainable share from one product of the process to
another is not allowed.
For example, in case of a chloralkaline processing unit in which renewable
electricity, sodium chloride and water are used to produce chlorine as the main
product, the process yields equivalent amounts of chlorine, sodium hydroxide
and hydrogen (for every mole of chlorine produced, one mole of hydrogen and
two moles of sodium hydroxide are also produced). In this case it is not
allowed to e.g. transfer sustainable credits from chlorine to hydrogen or vice
versa.

9.4.8 Consideration of Hetero Atoms

If a product is produced from ISCC compliant and non-compliant input

materials and consists of carbon atoms and hetero atoms such as oxygen (O),
hydrogen (H) or nitrogen (N), the hetero atoms are considered to be part of
the sustainable share of the product, if they are derived from the ISCC
compliant input material (molecule). This holds for example for the oxygen
atom in bio ethanol, when the oxygen atom is also originating from the
biomass.

If oxygen or nitrogen from ambient air reacts with an ISCC compliant input
material, the oxygen and nitrogen atoms derived from ambient air are also
considered to be part of the sustainable share of the product (e.g. nitrogen in
ammonia production reacting with certified hydrogen, see certification
example 5 in Annex I – 4. Certification Examples) and it is allowed to make a
claim on the corresponding share33. This is allowed for using directly ambient
air as a reactant and for using purified oxygen or purified nitrogen as reactants
if the oxygen and the nitrogen are derived from ambient air.

It is not allowed to attribute the sustainable share of oxygen and nitrogen

during downstream production processes of the supply chain to hydrogen or
carbon atoms. Therefore, if oxygen or nitrogen atoms from ISCC compliant
input materials are no longer present in the certified output material
(molecule)34, the sustainable share needs to be reduced by the respective
mass of oxygen and nitrogen atoms from the ISCC compliant input material.
The certified free attribution is hence restricted in those cases to the mass of
the hydrocarbon content from the ISCC compliant input material35.

Since the origin of hetero atoms in an 12C/14C analysis cannot be determined,

the following norm applies for the determination of the bio-based content after
a 12C/14C analysis: If a product is processed by chemical synthesis and
reactant are derived from both biomass and non-biomass, oxygen (O) and/ or

33 This explicitly does not hold for the reaction of oxygen or nitrogen with non-compliant (fossil) input. In
case of co-processing ISCC compliant with non-compliant input (same material) only oxygen or nitrogen
reacting with the ISCC compliant share of the input material can be considered to be part of the
sustainable share of the product.
34 E.g., due to oxygen or nitrogen atoms leaving the production process as O2 or N2 or if the oxygen or
nitrogen atoms are present in output materials with no attributed sustainability characteristics.
35 Hetero atoms from impurities in input materials with weight percentages <1% do not need to be taken
into account for this requirement.

© ISCC System GmbH

 94

ISCC PLUS
hydrogen (H) and/ or nitrogen (N) element(s) is/ are bound to a carbon
structure derived from biomass, its/ their fraction is/ are considered to be
part(s) of the bio-based content36.

9.4.9 Overview of Requirements for Mass Balance Audits

The verification of mass balances is an integral part of the audit of an Mass balance
economic operator. It has to be verified by the auditor that the amount of verification is key
material that has been claimed as being sustainable is less than or equal to
the amount that is actually available and also that no multiple-accounting of
sustainable material has taken place.

Prior to the audit, the economic operator has to submit all mass balances to Available to
the certification body conducting the audit. This applies to all mass balances auditor prior to
audit
relevant for the certification of the economic operator, i.e. every site (external
storage facility or dependent collecting point) covered by the certificate. In the
case of an initial (first) audit the economic operator has to set up a mass
balance system which is checked by the auditor during the audit. For all further
audits the auditor has to verify at least a sample of mass balance periods
(including inputs, outputs, conversion factors and credits carried forward in
the) and has to check this against the bookkeeping and documentation.
The following specific aspects and documents have to be taken into account
for mass balances audits, including:

> List of all sites that are covered under the certification (e.g. external
storage sites, dependent collecting points, etc. Separate mass
balances have to be kept for each site (Chapter 9.4.1)

> List of all inputs, outputs and inventory per site, including descriptions
of the materials and information on the suppliers and recipients
respectively. This list has to include both sustainable and non-
sustainable materials, and if relevant, must also include fossil
materials handled by the sites

> Conversion factors applied. In the case of waste/residues it is

especially important to ensure that the conversion process was not
modified to produce more waste or residues

> Timeframe of mass balance periods. The start and end date of each
mass balance period should be documented transparently. The
economic operator has to inform the certification body about any
changes to the mass balance period

> Verification of the mass balance calculation to ensure that the

bookkeeping is balanced or that credits were calculated correctly.

> Sustainable inputs and outputs have to be accompanied by a set of

sustainability characteristics (reflected on incoming and outgoing

36 For further information please see DIN EN 16785-1

© ISCC System GmbH

 95

ISCC PLUS
Sustainability Declarations, see Chapter 8.3.2). During the audit it has
to be checked that sustainability characteristics from incoming
Sustainability Declarations were taken into account correctly to set up
the mass balances, and that the sustainability characteristics were
allocated correctly to the outgoing material

> Mass balances and other relevant documentation of other certification

schemes used by the economic operator have to be taken into account
to ensure that no multiple accounting has taken place

9.5 Controlled Blending

Besides physical segregation and mass balance, controlled blending is the
third Chain of Custody option available under ISCC PLUS.
Only the sustainability characteristics “bio-based content” (raw material
categories bio and bio-circular) can be verified via “controlled blending”. As
controlled blending can be used with physical ISCC compliant bio-based
feedstocks, monitoring of this physical characteristic can be conducted via
C14-isotope analysis.

For controlled blending, the quantity of the physical inputs and outputs at the
site must be monitored and documented. Incoming percentage of controlled
blending input shall be known beforehand in order to determine the
percentage of the output before delivery.

Clear documentation of the sustainable percentage of each output must be

ensured. The percentage of controlled blended output shall be achieved by:

> Physical segregation of blended material or product in terms of

production, transport and storage

> Clear identification of the blended material or product during the

process

Controlled blending will be used by companies to make a stronger claim on

the physical characteristics of the product. This must be monitored and
documented.

© ISCC System GmbH

 96

ISCC PLUS
10 Audit Requirements and Risk Management
The ISCC EU System Document 204 “Risk Management” covers the Conduction of
requirements of how ISCC audits are to be conducted at different elements of audits
the supply chain, the risk management process under ISCC applicable to all
activities of ISCC and the implications of risks for ISCC audits.

This System Document applies equally for ISCC EU and ISCC PLUS.

11 GHG Emissions
The ISCC EU System Document 205 “Greenhouse Gas Emissions” explains Options on GHG
the options of stating greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions along the supply emissions
chain and provides the methodology, rules and guidelines for calculating and
verifying GHG emissions and emission reduction.

Within ISCC PLUS, the verification of GHG emissions is voluntary and can be
added by applying the add-on 205-01 “GHG Emissions”. If the add-on is
applied, this System Document applies equally for ISCC EU and ISCC PLUS,
with some differing requirements under ISCC PLUS which are described in
the following sub-chapters. In case system users have conducted a LCA
based on an ISO 14040/44 or ISO 14067 which differs from the ISCC
methodology (described in the ISCC EU System Document 205 “GHG
Emissions” and in this document), the calculated value needs to be
communicated separately and cannot be used to replace a GHG calculation
based on the ISCC methodology. 37

11.1 Deviations with respect to Emission Factors

Within ISCC PLUS, emission factors of input materials can be individually Emission factors
calculated or come from official sources like the Renewable Energy Directive
(RED) or Annex I of the ISCC EU System Document 205 “GHG Emissions”.
Furthermore, values based on Ecoinvent or other relevant databases or peer-
reviewed literature can be used, if applicable. Recognized methodologies for
individual calculations of input material emission factors are next to the RED
II or ISCC also ISO 14040/44 or ISO 14067. The methodology used for
individual calculations by the supplier must always be verified according to the
ISO standard or alternatively the supplier must be ISCC certified so that
relevant requirements have been verified during an ISCC audit.

11.2 Calculation of Regional GHG Values for Cultivation (eec)

Additionally, for regional averages for cultivation that can be calculated for Typical GHG
countries outside the European Community, where no typical emission values emissions for
for cultivation (NUTS2 values) exist, it is possible under ISCC PLUS for third cultivation
parties (e.g. companies, plantation owners, associations) to calculate typical

37 ISCC is going forward with pilot projects to include a methodology for PCF calculations. These pilot
projects will be conducted to verify the methodology for PCF calculations for sustainable feedstocks.

© ISCC System GmbH

 97

ISCC PLUS
GHG emissions for cultivation. The methodology shall follow ISCC’s
requirements and ISCC should be informed whenever such values are
calculated. However, a submission of the typical GHG emissions values to the
European Commission is not required.

11.3 Calculation of Individual GHG Values for Cultivation (eec)

In case of individual GHG emission calculations for a group of farms or Averaging of

plantations, the averaging of input values and GHG emission values is GHG values
accepted under ISCC PLUS.

11.4 Aggregation of Different GHG Values

Aggregation of
Under ISCC PLUS, the aggregation of different incoming GHG values is
GHG values
possible for all input materials of the same kind.

11.5 Allocation of GHG Emissions

Under ISCC PLUS, the allocation of emissions to main and co-products can Allocation of
be based on the energy content of both products (see 4.3.8.1 in ISCC EU GHG emissions
System Document 205 “GHG Emissions”), but other types of allocation (e.g.
based on mass) are also possible. The most suitable allocation method should
always be used, e.g. if the main product is used energetically an energetic
allocation should be applied.

11.6 Life Cycle Coverage

Under ISCC PLUS, the GHG emission calculation can either cover the whole Life cycle
life cycle of the product (from cradle-to-grave), or only the emissions up to the coverage
factory gate (from cradle-to-gate). In any case the GHG add-on must be
implemented in the entire supply chain up to the entity claiming a value on
outgoing product. It must always be clearly highlighted on the Sustainability
Declaration of the product if the cradle-to-gate approach is used. If required,
further information on the additional emission to be included for the product
must be provided to the recipient of the material.

© ISCC System GmbH

 98

ISCC PLUS
ANNEX I – ISCC EU and ISCC PLUS: Overview Differences
1. General Differences between ISCC EU and ISCC PLUS

Issue ISCC EU ISCC PLUS

ISCC PLUS at this point in
ISCC EU is recognized by the
time is a voluntary certification
European Commission in the standard for non-regulated
framework of the RED II markets

Accreditation by ANSI ISCC is planning to apply for

Recognition and
Accreditation Surveillance by German BLE recognition in the space of
recycling content, rates,
quotas, plastic tax once
possible and relevant

Accreditation by ANSI
Biofuel markets outside EU
and bioenergy, food, feed,
Scope of application Biofuel markets in the EU
chemicals/technical
applications

ISCC EU (ISCC EU
certification of the whole
upstream supply chain
required).
Provisionally, timber from
ISCC EU accepts all voluntary
forest certified under the
schemes that are recognised
Forest Stewardship Council
by the European Commission
(FSC) forest management
in the framework of the RED II
(FM) standard. (An additional
Acceptance of other and which are in line with
verification must be conducted
certification schemes ISCC requirements.
to prove compliance with the
Acceptance of voluntary
requirements for the ISCC EU
schemes is limited to the
202-3 Forest Biomass
scope which is recognised by
Principle 1.)
the European Commission.
ISCC will consider
benchmarks for potential
mutual recognition only with
other multi-stakeholder
voluntary schemes

Coverage of all types of All types of agricultural and

agricultural and forest forestry raw materials, waste
Materials currently covered biomass, biogenic waste and and residues, non-bio
residues (including renewables and recycled
agricultural, aquaculture, carbon materials and fuels

© ISCC System GmbH

 99

ISCC PLUS
fisheries and forestry
residues), ligno-cellulosic and
non-food cellulosic materials,
including feedstocks listed in
Part A of Annex IX of the RED
II
Coverage of raw materials of
non-biological origin, such as
liquid and solid waste streams,
waste processing and exhaust
gas and energy derived from
renewable sources other than
biomass

Application of GHG Mandatory for all elements of Voluntary coverage (add-on

emission requirements the supply chain “GHG Emissions”)

Yes. Annually reporting of

sustainable material for
Reporting Requirements to producer of final biofuel and Not applicable at this point in
the EC certified elements at the time
beginning of the supply chain
(e.g. FGPs, CPs)

2. Differences between ISCC EU and ISCC PLUS with regard to Traceability and
Chain of Custody

Issue ISCC EU ISCC PLUS

Only, if at least the equivalent Positive credit transfer

Transfer of positive credits
amount of physical material possible with no time limit
to the next mass balance
(sustainable and even if no physical material is
period
unsustainable) is in stock in stock

Transfer of credits to other

sites of the same company,
corporate group or joint
Transfer of credit between Transfer of credits between
venture possible for
different sites different sites not allowed
processing units and storage
locations under certain
conditions38

Under ISCC PLUS entities

Deliveries solely from ISCC
Mutual acceptance of ISCC handling “ISCC compliant”
PLUS certified companies not
EU and ISCC PLUS material can be accepted
accepted
under ISCC PLUS

38 Conditions in Chapter 9.4.2

© ISCC System GmbH

 100

ISCC PLUS
“ISCC Compliant”. If
applicable, claims for
“ISCC Compliant” and “EU
Applicable claims voluntary Add-ons used
RED compliant”
(ISCC claims and logos
document)

Mandatory (special
GHG information on Only if the voluntary Add-on
requirements for final biofuels
Sustainability Declaration “GHG emissions” is applied
see table below)

3. Differences between ISCC EU and ISCC PLUS with regard to GHG Emission
Calculation

Issue ISCC EU ISCC PLUS

Application of GHG Mandatory for all elements of Voluntary application of add-

requirements the supply chain on “GHG Emissions”

Yes. Producer of final fuel and

downstream supplier have to
No. Voluntary if requested by
report GHG emissions of fuel,
final customer/market.
Specific GHG requirements relevant fossil fuel comparator,
Application of add-on “GHG
for final products GHG emission savings
Emissions” along the supply
(compared to relevant fossil
chain is precondition
fuel) and statement on start of
operations39

39 According to the RED II an installation shall be considered to be in operation once the physical
production of fuel, heat or cooling, or electricity has started (i.e. once the production of fuels including
biofuels, biogas or bioliquids, or production of heat, cooling or electricity from biomass fuels has started).
shall be considered to be in operation if the physical production of biofuels has taken place.

© ISCC System GmbH

 101

ISCC PLUS
4. General Certification Examples
The below given examples show possible certifications under ISCC PLUS on an exemplary basis.
The list is not complete. Adaptations of the individual examples shown here may be necessary due
to different requirements of different setups. The list aims to support the establishment of a uniform
terminology and handling and to provide orientation for certification.

Example
number Inputs Outputs Description

To produce ISCC PLUS certified methanol from

fossil or atmospheric CO2, ISCC compliant
hydrogen need to be used. The same is true for
Renewable- Renewable-
ISCC compliant methane from fossil or
1 energy-derived energy-derived
atmospheric CO2 (SNG). The raw material
hydrogen, CO2 methanol
category of the hydrogen (bio, (bio-)circular,
renewable-energy-derived) can solely be used as
the raw material category for methanol.

ISCC PLUS certified urea can be produced from

fossil or atmospheric CO2 and ISCC compliant
ammonia (bio, (bio-)circular, renewable-energy-
derived). The other relevant process input besides
Bio ammonia, CO2, which needs to be ISCC compliant, is
2 Bio urea
CO2 ammonia in this example. Hence, in this example,
the carbon and oxygen atom of urea derived from
CO2 are part of the sustainable share. The raw
material category of the ammonia can be solely
used as the raw material category for urea.

Renewable- In the Chloralkali electrolysis electrical current is

energy-derived used to produce chlorine at the anode and
chlorine, hydrogen at the cathode. Hence electricity is an
Renewable- integral part of the reaction of the production
Renewable energy-derived process and can be considered as the main
3
electricity hydrogen, feedstock. The material feedstocks water and
Renewable- sodium chloride itself are not certified. All products
energy-derived of this production process (chlorine, hydrogen,
sodium sodium hydroxide) can be claimed “renewable-
hydroxide energy-derived”.

A combination of raw material categories for the

super absorbing polymer (SAP) sodium
Renewable-
Renewable- polyacrylate is possible, since this reflects the
energy-derived
energy-derived chemical reaction and both inputs with different
4 sodium
bio sodium raw material categories are present in the certified
hydroxide, bio
polyacrylate output. The masses of the parts of SAP derived
acrylic acid
from each raw material category need to be stated
separately in the Sustainability Declaration.

© ISCC System GmbH

 102

ISCC PLUS
The nitrogen atoms, which were derived from
ambient air and which reacted with ISCC
Renewable- compliant hydrogen are part of the sustainable
Renewable-
energy-derived share of ammonia. In case of co-processing with
5 energy-derived
hydrogen, N2 hydrogen from fossil sources only the nitrogen
ammonia
from air reacting with the ISCC compliant share of
hydrogen is considered for the sustainable share
of ammonia.

© ISCC System GmbH

 103

ISCC PLUS
ANNEX II – Social Criteria for Ocean-bound Plastic

1. Social Development

1.1. A Self-Declaration on Good Social Practice regarding Human

Rights Is Available

A self-declaration on good social practice regarding human rights must have Commitment to
been communicated to the workers. The company management and the good social
practices
workers’ representative must have signed and displayed a self-declaration
assuring good social practice and the human rights of all workers. The self-
declaration must be in a language appropriate to the workers and surrounding
communities. This declaration contains the following:

> a commitment to the ILO core labour standards

> respect for a living wage
> respect for the social environment
> commitment to fair contract arrangements
Degree of obligation: immediate requirement

1.2. Other Forms of Social Benefits Are Offered by the Employer to

Workers and their Families and/or Community

Incentives including incentives for good working performance, bonus Incentives

payments, support for professional development, family friendliness, medical for workers
care/health provisions and the improvement of social surroundings are
offered. Workers should be encouraged to take out health insurance by
creating awareness and providing information about available insurance
policies. Health insurance can include long-term compensation in case of
disability and payment of medical costs.

Degree of obligation: best-practice requirement

2. Employment conditions

2.1. No Forced Labour

There must be no use of forced, bonded or involuntary labour.40 Labour that Forced
originates from human trafficking is strictly prohibited. Workers are guaranteed labour and
the freedom of movement and shall not be forced to hand over their identity retaining
cards to the employer or any other third party. If workers voluntarily surrender salary,
their identity cards to the employer for safekeeping, they shall have property
unrestricted access to their identity cards. Access must be free of charge and

40 In line with ILO Conventions 29 and 105

© ISCC System GmbH

 104

ISCC PLUS
it can be documented. An agreement on the safekeeping of identity cards shall
be available in written form, in a language understood by the worker. Retaining
workers’ salary, excessive deduction of fees from wages for disciplinary
purposes, personal protective equipment, or deposits for accommodation or
tools is prohibited.

Degree of obligation: immediate requirement

2.2. No Child Labour

Child labour is prohibited, as well as all forms of slavery or practices similar to Children and
slavery. The minimum age must comply with all local and national legislation young,
as well as with ILO Conventions 138 and 182. No minors are to be employed. pregnant or
Documents must include records of workers’ dates of birth and documented disabled
evidence that the employer is aware of relevant legislation. workers

Degree of obligation: immediate requirement

2.3. No Discrimination
There shall be no indication of discrimination (distinction, exclusion or Equality of
preference) practiced that denies or impairs equality of opportunity, conditions opportunities
or treatment based on individual characteristics and group membership or
association.

Degree of obligation: immediate requirement

2.4. Respect and Ensure Gender Equity

Special attention shall be paid to ensure that women and minority groups can Equal
participate meaningfully in meetings and negotiations in order to participation in
articulate/communicate their concerns/ideas. In all stakeholder consultation meetings and
processes, including the FPIC, women and minority groups shall be consultations
appropriately included and their voices equally heard and respected.

Degree of obligation: immediate requirement

2.5. Regular Employment Is Available wherever Possible

Employment relationships shall be established through national law and Employment

practice. The employment of contract or temporary workers for permanent or relationships
ongoing tasks, e.g. to eliminate or reduce pay and benefits, shall not take
place. This can be supported by a regular assessment of ways to promote the
use of permanent and local labour.
Degree of obligation: best-practice requirement

© ISCC System GmbH

 105

ISCC PLUS
2.6. Workers are Treated with Dignity and Respect

The company shall not engage in or tolerate the use of corporal punishment, No punishment
mental or physical coercion, verbal or physical abuse or sexual harassment or abuse
or any kind of intimidation of workers. No harsh or inhumane treatment is
permitted. A policy to prevent sexual and all other forms of harassment and
violence shall be implemented and communicated to all levels of the
workforce, contract workers and service providers.

Degree of obligation: immediate requirement

2.7. All Workers Are Provided with Fair Legal Contracts

All workers are provided with fair legal contracts in written form and in the Signed
languages understood by workers and explained carefully to them in case of working
low literacy. Copies of working contracts must be able to be shown to the contracts
auditor for every worker indicated in the records. Both the worker as well as
the employer must have signed them. Personnel records for each employee
must be kept for at least 24 months. Where a registration system exists, copies
of working contracts must be registered with the labour authority of the country
of production. In those countries where there are no requirements for formal
labour agreements between workers and employers, alternative documented
evidence of a labour relationship must be present.
Degree of obligation: immediate requirement

2.8. A Living Wage Is Paid Which Meets at least Legal or Industry

Minimum Standards

The company’s pay slips demonstrate that living wages meet at least legal or Payment
industry minimum standards and are sufficient to meet the basic needs of
workers and provide some discretionary income. Gross wages are paid to
workers at least monthly.

Degree of obligation: immediate requirement

2.9. There Is a Person Responsible for Workers’ Health, Safety and

Good Social Practice
An organigram is in place including the responsible person for workers’ health, Competence of
safety and good social practice. represent

Degree of obligation: immediate requirement

2.10. Records of All Workers and Employees Are Available

Records should clearly demonstrate an accurate overview of all workers and Record-keeping of
employees (including seasonal workers and subcontracted workers). The employees

© ISCC System GmbH

 106

ISCC PLUS
records must indicate full names, a job description, date of birth, date of entry,
wage and the period of employment. Records must be accessible for the last
24 months.
Degree of obligation: immediate requirement

2.11. Working Times and Overtime Are Documented

There is a time recording system that makes daily working time and overtime Record-keeping
on a daily basis transparent for all workers and employers. Working times of of working times
all workers during the last 24 months are to be documented. Rest breaks/days
should also be documented during peak seasons.

Degree of obligation: immediate requirement

© ISCC System GmbH